


Straight From the Heart

by Prettylittle_mistake



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Azula isn’t evil, Canon-Typical Violence, Falling in love in New York, Fluff, Jet being an asshole, M/M, Modern Setting, My First Fanfic, New York City, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Ozai being the worst, This is my first fic please tell me if I messed something up okay, Zuko and Sokka are super cute, Zuko has mental health issues, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, lots of fluff, minor jetko, zukka - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-17 18:40:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28604589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prettylittle_mistake/pseuds/Prettylittle_mistake
Summary: Tired of working all the time instead of exploring New York City while he’s young, Zuko starts to take more breaks from work and let loose. On his journey of self discovery, he finds a psycho ex, friendships, and a mysterious stranger with blue eyes.Or:Kind of an edgy Hallmark movie but the characters are kinda fucked up instead of being perfect.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Jet/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong/Suki
Comments: 43
Kudos: 53





	1. Chapter 1

Zuko sat quietly at a large, glass desk in the middle of his large, New York City office that looked out over the dark skyline in front of him. 

But Zuko didn’t care about the skyline or the pretty lights, he was far too focused on the papers in front of him, despite the dark city behind him screaming at him that it was well past time to go home. 

Zuko searched the countless mess of papers in front of him, highlighting and underlining important information here and there. His eyes threatened to shut under the dim lighting. 

A quiet rapping on his door woke him from his trance and he looked up to see his secretary, Enya, standing in the doorway eying the discarded half-eaten Chinese food Zuko had long since forgotten about. 

“Yes Enya?” Zuko said, stifling a yawn. 

“Hi Mr. Sozin, I just wanted to let you know that I am leaving for the night and make sure that there’s nothing else you need me to do?” 

Zuko offered a tired smile. “No, there’s nothing else I need”

“Goodnight Mr. Sozin, don’t stay out too late” she half-joked. They both knew he wouldn’t take the advice. 

“Thank you Enya, goodnight”. Enya turned to leave and Zuko added “and for the last time, my name is Zuko” 

She smiled and tuned away and Zuko watched her in the glass. She was a good kid. An intern from Illinois turned into a full time employee. 

Zuko caught sight of the clock hung on the wall that read 8:27 PM and sighed. He glanced between the clock and his papers, trying to decide what to do. 

Ever since his father had appointed him as the head of the New York City branch, Zuko had been lost. He didn’t deserve the position, hell, he didn’t even want the position. His father had practically forced it upon him. 

There was so much more that he would rather be doing than working as the Client Data and Management Information blah blah blah at his father’s company, Sozin Tech. 

All anyone really needed to know was that he worked with clients to resolve issues and legal things and did a shitload of paperwork and was basically the head of the branch, although he had appointed a team of more experienced managers to actually take care of the management side of the branch. 

This all came down to the point that Zuko hated his job. He often wondered how much more he would be living if he explored the city and spent his quickly dwindling youth finding romance and soaking up all the city had to offer. 

Yet he was at work on a Friday night, sitting alone in his office doing work that he hated and for what? A few half-hearted compliments every so often from a father who didn’t think he deserved any honor. 

Zuko let out a frustrated yell and threw a stack of papers off of the desk. He was about to reach down and pick them up when he decided fuck it.

Instead he stood up and grabbed his long grey jacket and locked up his office for the night, throwing away his leftover Chinese food on the way out and ignoring the discarded papers he had thrown to the ground. He left without so much as a glance back. 

Instead of taking the usual private cab home, Zuko decided to take the more scenic route and walk home. It wasn’t too bad of a walk, but still offered a good amount of exercise to get back. 

Zuko eventually reached his far too large apartment that his father insisted on him taking. It was a spacious and meticulously decorated 2 bedroom 2 bathroom that overlooked Central Park from the west side. Zuko had no idea why he needed 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, but it was not his choice. It was never his choice. 

When he arrived, he greeted the familiar doorman and pressed the call elevator button, beginning his assent to the top floor. 

Stepping into his apartment always felt cold and unhappy. The decor was not his style and was handpicked by his father and was more reminiscent of an expensive hotel than a young person’s apartment. He didn’t live with anyone, so there was no one to come home to. At one point, he lived with his sister Azula, but she moved back to their hometown, Albany, leaving nothing but vague details and what seemed like a lot of excuses. 

Zuko locked his door and neatly put away his shoes and coat before walking into the living room and falling onto the sofa, a long sigh escaping him. He casually flipped on the TV to whatever he was watching last and stared out at Central Park through his huge window. From this high up, people seemed like ants, and he could only make out the features of those closest to the building. 

Searching his mind for something to do as he lazily watched the people below, Zuko thought about what a young, 25-year-old man should be doing on a Friday night. 

Almost humorously, his first thought was to invite over some friends. He let out a small chuckle. Zuko didn’t have friends, he had acquaintances and colleagues. 

Everyone at work was nice, but being the son of the owner of the company had its downsides when it came to friendships. 

And then there was Mai and Ty Lee, but they weren’t Zuko’s friends, they were Azula’s friends. There was Aang, his cheery friend from college, but Aang was always busy with being engaged to Katara and working. Unfortunately this combined with Zuko’s busy work life led to a friendship that had mostly dissolved over the years. 

Once again, Zuko felt truly alone. 

Another thought danced across his mind to call his father, but he immediately struck it down. 

He shuddered at the mere thought and decided that he would save the unpacking of his issues with his father for another night. 

Staring out at the city full of little ant people, he spotted a few couples walking down the street and felt his heartstrings tug. 

Fuck it. 

Zuko wants to be like the people below. He wants to fall in love both in the city and with the city. He wants to put himself out there and have fun and not feel tied down. So fuck it. 

He stood up confidently and grabbed his coat and slipped on his shoes, heading out the door, and stepped into the chilly late November night.

He didn’t really know where he was going, but he decided he’ll just wander until he figures it out. He started off on a brisk pace, soaking up the details around him. 

One thing that Zuko admittedly likes is people watching. It’s a bit cheesy, but he just finds so much beauty in small, seemingly inconsequential moments. 

As he’s walking, he passes a mother and father, each holding one of a little girl’s hands tightly. 

He sees a few children playing in a pile of snow. 

He sees a girl hanging on to every word the girl in front of her is saying, love filling her eyes. 

He sees a man, around the same age as him, and he think’s he might be the most beautiful man he’s ever seen. Short hair pulled back and the sides shaved off. Sparkling blue eyes that crinkle in the corners and dance with mystery and humor as he laughs with the person beside him. Gorgeous tan skin wearing a dark blue coat and blue jeans, unknowingly walking towards a slick patch of black ice... 

Unknowingly walking towards a slick patch of black ice? Zuko froze in his spot and turned around to bear witness to what he knew was about to happen. 

He didn’t even realize he had moved to the man’s side and before his mind could process the situation, he was catching him as he slipped. 

“Woah!” The man yelled out, but Zuko was there just in time. 

Arms wrapped around his warm waist, Zuko caught him, and pulled him back up to his feet before he could fully fall over. He could feel his heavy, labored breathing as he took his hands off of his waist. 

“You should be more careful” Zuko blurted out. It meant to sound innocently flirty, but it ended up sounding like an accusation, and Zuko mentally slapped himself. 

The man turned around to see who had caught him and once their eyes met, Zuko knew this would fuel his fantasies of romance and meet-cutes for months. 

The man looked at him with those bright, clear blue eyes that stood out against his dark skin. For a moment, they just stared at each other. 

“Yeah Sokka, you should be more careful. Some of us can’t see where they’re going, remember”. Zuko was the first to break their eye contact to look at the girl (who admittedly he was too busy staring at the boy to notice). Who was this girl? A friend? A girlfriend? A sister? Zuko decided to just assume friend and see what happens. 

He didn’t mind breaking the eye contact first anyway. He had always been slightly insecure about his eyes. They were a yucky yellowish brown color. Why was he cursed with yellow eyes? 

The boy, Sokka apparently, seemed to snap out of a trance when Zuko looked away. “I’m sorry, Toph, I just wasn’t watching where I was going” he said sheepishly, stealing another glance at Zuko. 

“Well some of us don’t have the option to watch where they’re going! If you’re going to offer to be my guide dog, you better learn how to see better” she said, and playfully punched him in the arm. 

“I’m sorry, I was just... distracted” the boy said as the girl grumbled out a sarcastic “clearly”. 

“Thank you, by the way for saving me” the boy said to Zuko with a smile. 

“Oh, uhh, it’s really no problem. I wouldn’t say that I saved you or anything. Just happy to help” Zuko shyly started to shift his weight and kick his feet as he stumbled over his sentence. 

Sokka smiled. “Do I get to know the name of my knight in shining armor?” 

Zuko’s face began to go a bit pink “Haha, I don’t know about knight, but my name’s Zuko” 

Sokka offered a hand to shake “I’m Sokka. It’s a pleasure to meet you”. Zuko grasped his hand and shook it, thanking the spirits for this pleasant interaction with the decidedly most beautiful man he has ever met. 

“I’m Toph by the way” Toph said, sticking her hand out, pointing at a tree on Zuko’s right. 

Sokka gently guided her arm to where Zuko was and he shook her hand. 

“The pleasure was really all mine” Zuko said. “Let me know if you ever need someone to catch you again before you fall” Zuko slightly cringed at the cheesiness of the line he had just added, hoping he didn’t ruin the situation or come off creepy. 

Instead, Sokka just smiled with that perfect smile “I am pretty clumsy, you know” 

Zuko was about to respond with something that he hoped would come off as witty and flirty, but Sokka’s cellphone began to ring. 

They both jumped, startled and Sokka pulled the phone out of his pocket. 

“I am so sorry, but I need to take this. Thank you again for catching me!” Sokka ended the conversation hastily and Zuko waved a silent goodbye to the best interaction he’s had all week and continued down the way he was going. 

Zuko took a deep breath in and smiled, thinking about the boy. He doesn’t stop smiling until he gets all the way to the bar. 


	2. Chapter 2

Zuko ended up at a bar called The Foxhole - a nice cozy bar with a surprisingly delicious menu and was usually pretty packed. Tonight was no exception. The dim lights and the soft glow of neon signage lit up the faces of an array of strangers. 

Zuko had been there a few times before. It was his go-to bar from his college days which, reflecting back on, Zuko realized was kind of lame. This bar wasn’t full of college students or loud music with a bass that shook everything in a 3 mile radius. 

Though, it was where he and his small friend group had some of their best memories. 

Zuko entered, walked straight to the bar, and ordered a drink from a vaguely familiar bartender who he’s pretty sure had been there since he was in college. He downed it pretty quickly, and asked for another. 

After all, he figured he would need a lot of ‘liquid courage’ if he was going to try to find adventure or romance or whatever it was he was looking for. He decided that maybe tonight he was just looking for some fun. He’ll start small and work his way up to adventure. 

Second drink already in hand, Zuko scanned the crowd tonight, looking over the cluster of faces, trying to filter through people who were in groups with friends, and those who were looking for someone. 

Suddenly he heard a “Hey cutie” from his left side. 

Zuko jumped, his heart racing and muscles tightening as his left side was his bad side. He had a rather large scar on this side from an incident he preferred not to discuss, but this all came down to the fact that he hated when people crept up from this side because he felt more vulnerable. 

Regardless, he decided to pursue the conversation and turned to see a pretty attractive man who looked to be around his age. He had dark skin, chocolate brown eyes, and an unlit cigarette hanging out of his mouth, lazily. 

It was Jet. Fucking Jet. “What do you want?” Zuko groaned, taking another rather large gulp of his drink. 

“Aww, Zuzu bear, is that any way to treat your ex lover?” Jet cooed, placing his arm around Zuko, giving a small squeeze. 

“Leave me alone, Jet” Zuko replied, trying to sound stern but it came out as more of a whine.

“That’s not what you were saying last week, was it? Or should I say screaming” Jet teased and Zuko felt his stomach flip. 

Jet and Zuko had dated for one year, and only had broken up a few months ago when Zuko got dumped. But this didn’t stop Jet from constantly harassing Zuko. 

Jet claimed that he still wanted to be friends, but Zuko never really wanted to be just friends and Jet seemed to have a different idea of what just friends really meant. 

Every now and then, Jet would open up the wound that Zuko never got to heal from and would sleep with Zuko, leading to a whole cycle of unhealthy feelings. 

Zuko never had a chance to get over Jet, and Jet knew this and even Zuko knew this, but he kept playing into Jet’s game because he was weak. 

Zuko knew that it was in his best interest to just stay away from Jet, but as if he was a drug, he couldn’t resist him. 

“I’ll ask you again, what do you want?” Zuko asked, not daring to look Jet in the eye. 

“I was just thinking about you... at home... by myself. And what a surprise it turned out to be that you were here at the same time I am. I think it’s fate Zuzu” Jet placed a careful kiss on Zuko’s cheek below the scar, then another on his jaw, and one on his neck. 

Zuko stayed deadly still, not really knowing what to do. He felt like there were two voices, tugging at his mind. One was begging him not to get his heart broken all over again, and the other was longing to return to Jet’s warm arms. After all, it had been so long since he felt safe and secure in someone’s embrace. 

“I’m thinking... we should head to your place. What do you say?” Jet continued to kiss down Zuko’s neck and Zuko had to fight to not melt into a puddle of pleasure. 

Zuko quickly glanced around the bar. It’s not like he had many other choices. Zuko grimaced and sighed, “Yeah, let’s go”.

Jet immediately bounced up from his chair and grabbed Zuko’s hand, lacing their fingers and pulling him out of the bar. Zuko barely had time to throw some cash at the bar for the drinks and a generous tip. 

Once they stepped out of the bar, Jet picked Zuko up effortlessly, carrying him down the sidewalk. 

“Oh god, Jet! Come on, put me down!” Zuko exclaimed, laughing as Jet carried him out past people who were clearly staring. “Seriously Jet, I hate you!”

“Come on, you love me” Jet said with a smug smirk. 

Zuko’s heart skipped at the word. He did still have lingering feelings for the man. He had never gotten over him. Zuko remained quiet. 

“Say it Zuzu, you love me!” 

Zuko remembered the last time he said I love you to Jet, and the immediate, intense disappointment he felt when he didn’t hear it back. So Zuko changed gears, “You’re an asshole”. 

“No no no, you didn’t say it. Tell me you love me”. When Zuko didn’t respond, Jet started to shake his body. “Tell me you love me or I’ll... drop you into the fountain!” Jet said with a devious grin, heading towards the pool of water. 

“You wouldn’t” 

“I would” Jet said with an almost deadly seriousness. He then teasingly acted like he was going to drop Zuko into the fountain. Zuko instinctually grabbed Jet’s neck and held on for his dear life. 

“Seriously Jet, don’t drop me, come on!” Zuko begged. 

“You know how to stop this” Jet said with a smile before nearly dropping Zuko. 

“Jet, it’s November. It’s fucking freezing, please don’t drop me” 

Jet just shrugged, “Hmm, that didn’t sound like you saying you love me”. Jet lowered Zuko’s body and dipped his foot in the water. 

“Okay! Okay, I love you Jet, please put me down now”. As the words were coming out of his mouth, they sounded weird. Almost as if they were starting to lose meaning. 

“See, that wasn’t so hard. I’ll put you down” Jet said, and Zuko thanked the spirits that this was over. 

Suddenly, Zuko was submerged in cold water. 

“JET YOU DICKHEAD!” Zuko sputtered out when he resurfaced. Zuko was tempted to pull that laughing idiot into the fountain but for one, he wasn’t mean enough to pull him into the freezing water and second, it would just make this feel too much like a relationship, which this definitely was not. 

Zuko climbed out of the fountain, sopping wet and shivering from the cold. “You’re the worst” Zuko said, punching Jet playfully in the chest. 

“I know” Jet said, and leaned down and kissed Zuko. Zuko smiled into the kiss. He missed Jet and the way his lips felt rugged and rough against his. 

“Let’s get back to your place before you get hypothermia” Jet said and gave one last kiss before starting in the direction of the apartment. 

Zuko shivered and they walked back together. Once they got into the apartment, Jet got straight down to business. “Let’s get you out of these wet clothes” he smiled and pulled off Zuko’s clothes for him, tossing them aside and leaning in and kissing him. They made out for a few minutes before Zuko pulled away. 

“This isn’t fair, I’m half undressed and you’re fully dressed” Zuko laughed and tugged at Jet’s shirt. Jet smirked and nodded. 

“You’re right, it isn’t fair” Jet began to slowly and tantalizingly peel off his clothes, one article at a time. And all Zuko could do was sit there and stare. 

As soon as his clothes came off, Zuko pulled Jet in close again for another rough, passionate kiss. Jet began pushing him back as they made their way to the bedroom. 

Jet roughly threw Zuko onto the bed and got to work but strangely, the only thing Zuko could think about was the boy from earlier with the beautiful blue eyes. 

———

The next morning, Zuko woke up to the sound of clothes rustling and an empty, cold spot in his bed. Zuko opened his eyes to see Jet hastily shoving back on his clothes from last night in an attempt to escape. 

Zuko decided that it wasn’t worth the trouble of trying to persuade Jet to stay, so even if it hurt a little, he pretended like he was still asleep. 

He had gone through this too many times and knew that waking up and asking Jet to stay would only cause a scene and would end with Jet accusing Zuko of not being able to get over him. So Zuko kept asleep and listened to the gentle tip-toeing as he exited the house. 

Once he heard the front door shut, he let out a sigh and opened his eyes. 

He knew it was a little messed up to be sleeping with his ex when he still had some lingering feelings, but he couldn’t help himself. Besides, he always asked himself what was the harm in sleeping together just a few times?

Zuko slowly pulled himself out of bed and headed to the shower to wash the Jet off of him. He stood in the shower under a blistering hot spray of water and scrubbed furiously until his skin was pink. 

When he finished he dried off and put on a simple pair of sweatpants and a gray t-shirt and began to clean up from last night. He picked up his trail of clothes that had since dried stiffly from the previous night. 

From his pocket, he pulled out a slightly damp wallet. “Fucking Jet” Zuko muttered to himself as he felt the waterlogged dollar bills and counted the amount. It was no secret that Jet had liked to steal from Zuko in the past. To be fair, Zuko had told him “whatever’s mine is ours”, he just hadn’t realized the monetary implications of his words. He also didn’t realize that it applied post their relationship. 

After counting to find that Jet hadn’t stolen anything, Zuko reached into the part of the wallet where he kept the golden Pai Sho tile his uncle Iroh had given him for good luck, but he came up empty. 

He searched the entire wallet, pants pockets, and all around the apartment, but couldn’t find it anywhere. Zuko began to freak out as his heart started racing and his chest tightened. Zuko loved that tile more than the wallet itself and the money it contained, and not just because it was real gold. It held a strong sentimental value and meaning that was very dear to Zuko. He felt lost without it, and always carried it on him. 

Besides, he goes to his uncle’s apartment every Sunday for dinner together and Zuko could feel the guilt settle in already. Should he tell him? Should he lie? 

Zuko broke down leaning back against his door, sobbing. This was pathetic. He had gone into the city looking for “love” (as cheesy as it was), and he was met with... Well, Jet. 

If this entire night didn’t sum up Zuko’s life, he didn’t know what did. Voices began to fill his head, and Zuko started shaking. Images flashed through his mind. His mother, his father, Azula, all just staring at him in disapproval, then just Ozai. 

He saw the vein in his head popped the way it does when Zuko had fucked up and his father was trying his hardest to stay calm. “I’m a reasonable man, Zuko” his father’s voice boomed. “Why do you insist on fucking up all the time?” Zuko winced, but knew to stay very still. 

“That wasn’t fucking rhetorical” his father said bitterly with so much authority that Zuko couldn’t feel his legs anymore. 

“I-I-I’m sorry” Zuko stuttered out lamely, not sure how to answer. 

Ozai chuckled. “How sorry?” He asked, and Zuko held back tears and got on his knees. 

Suddenly the memory stopped when he felt cold water rushing down his throat. He didn’t really remember getting up and getting water, but he was glad to be sitting in his kitchen. 

He wiped the sweat off of his forehead and let out a long sigh in hopes that the sigh would somehow release all of the bad that had happened to him and calm his nerves. It was a lot to ask from a sigh, but it was worth a shot.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko visits his Uncle Iroh for their weekly dinner and is inspired by his words.

That Sunday, Zuko visited his uncle in his small apartment like he did every week. 

Iroh’s apartment was situated above the tea shop that he owned; The Jasmine Dragon. One of the best in New York City. 

Zuko nervously knocked on the door, clutching a bottle of plum wine and fruit tarts that he hoped would stop the guilt from plaguing his mind. He heard some movement before the door opened to reveal his brightly smiling uncle. 

“Nephew!” He exclaimed happily before ushering Zuko inside. 

As per usual, Iroh had prepared a feast that was made to serve at least six people, but there was only the two of them. “What do you have with you?” Iroh questioned. 

“Oh, um, plum wine and fruit tarts” Zuko said nervously. 

“Hmm, plum wine and fruit tarts... Are you trying to suck up to me? Because if so... it is working!” Iroh joked brightly, setting the food on the table. 

Zuko chuckled awkwardly, and thought maybe he would bring up the missing tile later. 

They sat down together and began to eat the well prepared meal in front of them. Zuko was always impressed more by the variety than anything else. Iroh loved experimenting and trying new foods. There was always the staple foods; dumplings, rice, tea, smoked sea slug, and hippo-ox tail skewers, but there was also usually a new food that Iroh wanted to try. This week it was puffin-seal sausages. And they truly were delicious. 

“You’ve outdone yourself this time, uncle” Zuko said after biting into a sausage that truly tasted better than anything he had tried so far. 

“You flatter me, Zuko” Iroh said between bites of food. “Did you do anything exciting this weekend” Iroh tried to ask nonchalantly, but could not hide his eagerness for the answer. 

“Nope, just stayed home and worked” Zuko lied, cringing a little. He hated lying to his uncle, but sometimes it was necessary. It’s not like he could open up about fucking his ex and losing the one prized possession his uncle had given him. 

He watched as his uncle’s face fell slightly. “Oh, I see... you know Zuko, the city in the winter time can be a remarkably romantic place” Iroh not so subtly hinted. 

“Uncle!” Zuko exclaimed, cheeks reddening, and not from the extra spicy fire noodles. 

“Nephew! There is nothing wrong with taking a break from work and finding a bit of romance. After all, there is a boy who works in the shop who I think you would really like” Uncle Iroh smiled. He was always trying to play matchmaker when it came to Zuko. 

“In my father’s eyes, there is something wrong with taking a break from work. I can’t take a break from work just to frolic around the city. I’m needed at work” Zuko said sourly, avoiding answering the last statement from his uncle. 

“I see. And what would happen if you left for a week-“

“Please, let’s just drop it”. 

Zuko knew it was a bit harsh, but he wasn’t really in the mood for love anyway considering his weekend experience. Although, he still has those cheerful blue eyes seared into his head. 

“How’s the tea shop?” Zuko changed the subject and Iroh began to launch into a long story about an event that recently happened that likely had a lesson to be learned at the end. Zuko just continued to eat and daydream about that boy, Sokka. 

After eating and helping his uncle wash dishes and package leftover food, Zuko knew what typically comes next. They usually play a few games of Pai Sho. 

Of course, Zuko wasn’t expected to bring up the solid gold tile that he lost, but it just made him feel worse. 

And on top of it all, Zuko was not the biggest fan of Pai Sho. He didn’t really get the game, and was frankly terrible at it despite spending countless hours of childhood, teenage years, and adulthood playing the game. 

But his uncle loved it and Zuko had great appreciation for both his uncle, and the game. Even if he only ever really won about every 1 out of 10 games. 

Only a few minutes into their game, Zuko was already feeling anxious and frustrated. He was losing quite badly. His uncle could have won the game at least 3 times already, but he continued to spare Zuko for some reason and continued to play. 

“Why do you keep sparing me? If you would have just played this, the game would just be over” Zuko asked impatiently. 

“I do not believe it is time for the game to be over. After all, we have only been playing for 5 minutes” Iroh chuckled. 

“The game should be over. You’ve already won”

“But I have chosen not to”

“Why not?”

Iroh shrugged. “It’s not my destiny. And it’s more fun this way” 

Zuko shook his head, discarding the comment. Iroh was always trying to turn every situation into a teaching moment so it wasn’t all too odd to hear him talk about big concepts like destiny. 

“Speaking of destiny, what is your destiny, Zuko?” Iroh inquired, curiously. 

Zuko sighed and thought it over. “I don’t know, probably work at Sozin Tech until I die and maybe find someone to settle down with” 

Zuko made another move. 

“I see... is this your destiny, or is it a destiny someone else has tried to pick out for you?” Iroh moved a piece. 

“I-I don’t know? It’s not like I didn’t choose to work there. I could have turned it down. And I don’t think I can control whether or not I fall in love so yeah, it’s probably my destiny” 

Iroh thought carefully and nodded. “Are you sure you’re not just trying to please someone with an insatiable need to control your life?” 

“How could you make such an accusation? That’s your brother you’re talking about, and my father who loves me and just wants what is best for me” Zuko was taken aback by how forward his uncle was. Usually he hid his true intentions behind metaphors that Zuko would spend hours trying to work out. 

“Zuko, my boy, it’s time for you to look inward and begin asking yourself big questions-who are you and what do you want?” 

The words resonated in the small room and Zuko breath caught in his throat. 

“I don’t know what to say, but uh, you won” 

Iroh looked down at the board to see that Zuko had sacrificed his pieces with a bad move and made it nearly impossible not to lose. 

“Hmm. Very well. Pass the wine and tarts, please” 

———

The next week went by slowly. Day in, day out, every day the same. He worked hard at the office, but heard Iroh’s words ringing in his ears. By the time he had circled back to Friday, he had a few decisions to make. 

The clock showed 3:00. 2 hours to the scheduled end of the work day. Typically, Zuko stayed until at least 6:30 (the current record to beat for staying late being the one time he stayed until 2AM). But all this talk about destiny and doing what he truly wanted as opposed to what was wanted of him still rang in his head. 

He glanced between the never ending pile of papers, and the clock. 

3:01. He skimmed an Urgent Memorandum. 

3:01. Filled out a Quality Assurance Report. 

3:03. A Customer Satisfaction Inc-

Zuko didn’t even finish reading the title of the report. 

It was done. He was done. Well, he wasn’t done with the work (there’s always more work) he was done with being there. Done with wasting his nights in the office. At least for tonight. 

He stood up and grabbed his coat, heading for the door. 

“Goodbye Enya. Please don’t stay a minute overtime, it’s Friday night” Zuko said in a tone that he hoped wouldn’t come off too demanding. 

“Have a pleasant evening Mr. Zuko” she said, and waved goodbye. 

For the first time in a while, Zuko had the rare experience of leaving the office while it was still light out. 

He took in a breath of the cold crisp air and smiled, reveling in the simple pleasure of sunlight. 

The moment was quickly ruined by angry pedestrians yelling at him to move, but Zuko didn’t care. How could he care about anything when the sun was shining?

But out of politeness he started to move, long legs sending him bustling down the busy sidewalks. 

He was on his way back to his apartment when his stomach started growling loudly. He remembered that he had pushed off lunch to go to an important meeting with potential investors and got so caught up in everything that he forgot to eat it altogether. 

He suddenly made a sharp turn in a direction leading away from his apartment and started wandering, looking for somewhere to eat. 

Typically, Zuko would spend hours looking through ratings, comments, and critiques of restaurants before daring to step foot in one, but Zuko was in a fuck it mood and the fuck it mood was a powerful influence. 

However, staying true to his roots Zuko did spend an hour just wandering around looking for the most perfect looking, aesthetically pleasing, crowd attracting, fantastic smelling restaurant he could find. 

He settled on a place simply called “NY Soul”. Upon entering, Zuko’s mouth began to water as the warm air caressed his red cheeks and nose. He didn’t realize how cold he had been walking all that time outside until he felt the heat. 

Aesthetically speaking, the restaurant was exactly everything that pleased Zuko. Soft lighting that wasn’t dim and felt natural, real plants that were thriving in the windows, pictures of friends and family lining the walls and framed quotes of bad puns like “If you were a vegetable, you’d be a CUTEcumber” and “It’s always thyme for good food!”

There was also a good amount of people there, suggesting that it was a good place to eat but not too many that Zuko felt uneasy. It felt clean, yet comfortable and somehow familiar.

He was immediately greeted with a friendly girl who showed him to his seat. Upon scanning the extensive menu of amazing sounding options, he realized that everything was vegetarian.

It wasn’t something that he would usually pick, but he was very excited to try. 

Shortly he was greeted by a friendly waitress and before he knew it, he had tofu mung bean and coconut curry, steamed buns, vegetable dumplings, and rice in front of him. 

It only took one bite for Zuko to become completely enamored with the restaurant. He closed his eyes and savored food that was only second to his uncle’s cooking. 

And the smell, oh the smell was only to be described as heavenly. 

Zuko let out the only sound that he felt was appropriate for the moment; a humble “wow”. 

It didn’t take Zuko long to devour the meal and instantly wish he had more despite his stomach being completely stuffed. 

Once he was done, he decided that he couldn’t leave without bringing some takeout back to his apartment to have for lunch tomorrow, and ordered some more to go. 

As he waited, he realized that this was the first new restaurant that he had been to in at least 1 year. This realization hit him hard. Had he really been wasting this much of his time not experiencing everything the the city had to offer? Zuko shuddered and made a pact with himself to start trying more new restaurants. 

He was then given his to-go boxes of warm, delicious food and paid. Just as he was setting the tip on the table and getting ready to leave, he heard a voice calling out. 

“Oh my spirits, Zuko?” 

Zuko froze in his seat, eyes widening and social anxiety kicking in as Zuko looked to see who had called him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi friends, I hope that you all are doing fantastic! 
> 
> Here’s chapter 3, I hope you all enjoy as I had a lot of fun writing it! This chapter was pretty fluffy and not dramatic or anything, but the next one should have a little more drama!
> 
> I finally finished my plan for how the story is going to go, so I’m excited to really get into it and start meeting some more characters! 
> 
> Also, thank you to the people who have left comments so far! It truly warms my heart to get them and you all are so nice 🥺
> 
> If you have any feedback at all, I’d love to hear it as this is my first real fic. I technically may have started (and never finished) a few on a different website about 11 years ago when I was basically a baby, but I don’t really count those. 
> 
> But yeah, if you have any feedback, I’d appreciate it and comments make me really happy! Okay, that’s all, see you next chapter! :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko reunites with a college friend and is the most awkward human being on the planet.

Zuko’s palms began to sweat and his mouth went dry as he prepared himself for whatever may come next and who he may see as he turned around to see... Aang. 

Wait, Aang? Zuko blinked in confusion. He hadn’t seen Aang since college - about 3 years ago. 

Zuko stood up and Aang ran up to him, wrapping him in a tight hug, as if they hadn’t been separated longer than a few weeks. 

“Zuko, it’s so good to see you again!” Aang exclaimed into the hug as Zuko awkwardly wrapped his hands around his old friend. 

“Aang, it really is great to see you too” Zuko replied, truly meaning it. 

As much as he put up the ‘I don’t care’ attitude, deep down Zuko was lonely and he missed the few college friends that he had, like Aang. 

Aang pulled out of the hug, and grinned from ear to ear acting like he had just met a celebrity. Zuko felt a little bit bad for his neutral expression (he had been told countless times that he had “Resting Bitch Face”) and offered a small smile. 

“So Zuko, how have you been?” Aang asked, genuinely intrigued. 

Zuko briefly contemplated whether or not to tell the truth about how miserable he had been, but instead decided to share the highlights, like the (apparent) liar he was. 

“It’s been pretty great” Zuko lied through his teeth, “I still have my job at Sozin Tech, so that’s been, uh, great”. 

Zuko searched for something, anything else that had happened to him in the past 3 years. “And my uncle! You know my uncle Iroh, right?” 

“Yes, of course, such a amazing guy! Best tea I’ve ever had”

“Well he’s doing great. I see him often. And his tea shop is doing great too” Zuko swore to himself that if he said great one more time he would throw himself in front of some variety of moving vehicle. 

Aang, if it was even possible, perked up even more, “He has a tea shop?”

Seriously, how long had it been since they had seen each other? The Jasmine Dragon was pretty well established by now. Zuko nodded and tried to smile a little bigger in an attempt to match Aang’s enthusiasm. 

“That is some of the best new I’ve ever heard, Katara and I have to try his tea again. I have been searching for years trying to find somewhere that makes tea as good as him, and have come up empty” 

“Uhm, speaking of Katara, how is she? And how are you?” Zuko asked sincerely and Aang started to blush, his eyes clearly filling with love. 

“Oh, Katara’s fantastic. I seriously don’t know what I would do without her. We’re engaged and we’re actually starting the wedding planning soon.

“And I’ve been doing okay, being an environmental lawyer isn’t exactly what I thought it was going to be but I’m doing what I love-protecting the earth! But you should come sit down with us, it looks like you’re leaving but Katara and I would love to chat!” Aang’s words zoomed past Zuko as he tried to keep up with his rapid pace. He forgot how quickly Aang could talk when he was excited. 

“Uh, I really don’t want to impose on you two” Zuko said, trying to be polite. After all, he didn’t want to end up being a third wheel. 

Aang just shook his head, and as if he could read Zuko’s mind, began to slow down his words to a more understandable tempo, “It would be no trouble if you sat with us. In fact, it would make my day if you wanted to catch up!”

Zuko’s mind wavered between leaving and staying to chat. On one hand, his social anxiety was through the roof and practically begging him to leave the situation as soon as possible. On the other hand, Zuko’s heart was soaring with excitement from seeing his old friend so he decided on a compromise. 

“Okay, if you really don’t mind... I’ll stay for a little bit” Zuko said, and Aang practically cheered and led Zuko to his table. 

“Zuko, this is Katara. Katara, Zuko!” Aang introduced. 

Katara was certainly beautiful. She had dark skin and dark hair that was pulled into an elegant half up half down style with contrasting bright blue eyes. Bright blue eyes that reminded him of the ones he had seen last weekend, but with a city so large, Zuko doubted any connection to the two. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, I’ve heard a lot about you” Katara said, extending a hand that Zuko met and shook before sliding into the booth across from the couple. 

“Really, the pleasure is all mine. I’ve heard a lot about you too”. This was true. Zuko had  actually heard a lot about Katara. 

Aang and Katara went to high school together and Zuko spent all 4 years of college listening to Aang’s pining for Katara even though she went to college back in their hometown, hundreds of miles away from NYC. 

It was only right towards the end of college — and therefore right when Zuko and Aang started to drift apart — that they started dating and Katara moved to the city. Their paths never crossed. 

“Oh I would love to hear what Aang said about me when he was in college” Katara smiled, and Aang turned red. 

“Haha no no no you don’t. It’s all just boring stuff like, you know... guy stuff?” Aang sweated, trying to play it off cool making them both laugh. 

To be fair, Zuko didn’t really want to recount all of the embarrassing details that Aang had told Zuko over the years like how pretty Katara was, or how she always smelled like sunshine and happiness, or how Aang’s love for her was fueled by the one time in 10th grade she had written “Katara + Aang” inside a heart in her diary and Zuko was under no circumstances allowed to ask how Aang obtained that information. 

“I’ll just say this then...” Zuko started and watched Aang’s eyes widen and Katara move to the edge of her seat. “Aang has always loved you, and I have heard literally nothing but good, no, terrific things about you, Katara”. 

Satisfied with the answer, Katara smiled and looked at Aang lovingly. 

Aang smiled meekly, looking relieved and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. 

“So Zuko, what are you doing on this side of town?” Aang said, casually switching subjects. 

Zuko, in all honesty, hadn’t realized that he was so far away from home. As a matter of fact, he had only just realized that he was at least an hour and a half walk away from his apartment. 

“Oh, um, I was just looking for somewhere new to eat and I stumbled upon this place” Zuko replied. 

“Well you really came to the right place, this has got to be our favorite restaurant it literally blew our minds the first time we came here” Aang said, mimicking a mind explosion. 

Zuko nodded, “Yeah, I completely agree”. Zuko was about to end his sentence and stop talking when he realized that Aang was probably going to start asking him about his life again, so Zuko decided to circumvent the situation and instead started asking the questions. 

“So Katara, last I heard you were studying to be a nurse. Are you doing nursing now? How do you like it?” 

Katara’s face then lit up. “Yes! I currently do nursing in pediatrics and I love it. I love working with kids and...” 

As much as Zuko wanted to listen to Katara talk about her job, he started to zone out and the negative voices began their unwelcome work. 

Katara and Aang have such amazing jobs where they get to not only do things they’re passionate about, but they get to save the world while they’re at it. Don’t you feel dirty? Your job isn’t nearly as important, yet you probably get paid more than double what either of them make. 

“...and it’s just so rewarding to work with them..”

You’ll never find love. If you do, it won’t be a love like theirs. Give up now. You are alone. 

“...it’s been hard to work so much, but I’m so lucky to have Aang by my side...” 

Zuko refocused on the conversation, not letting his thoughts ruin the first real conversation with some his age that he’s had in months. 

You’re pathetic...

Shut up! 

“...anyway, long story short, we ended up adopting their cat, Appa, so he wouldn’t have to be sent to the shelter” Katara finished. 

“That’s... incredible” Zuko said, trying to sound like he hadn’t zoned out and was already internally punishing himself for not listening better. 

Aang’s phone was suddenly in front of him and was displaying a frankly, slightly strange looking cat. He was cute, but definitely looked more like a... small bison or something than a cat. 

“He’s adorable” Zuko smiled. 

“So Zuko, how’s work going? And what’s your position again?” Aang asked curiously. 

“Oh, um I’m the Client Data and Management Information-“ 

“Order’s up! Who ordered the bao?” 

Zuko was relieved to be cut off by the waitress coming around with Aang and Katara’s food. If he had to talk about work too much longer, he may actually die of boredom. 

Once they had been given their food, they both turned to Zuko expectantly, waiting to hear about his job. Zuko had other plans. 

“Well, I better be heading out. It’s getting late and I don’t want to interrupt your evening more than I already have” Zuko said, gathering his things so he could leave the couple to eat their dinner. 

“I understand. And don’t worry about anything, you didn’t interrupt at all” Aang said, cheerfully. 

“It was, honestly, wonderful seeing you again, Aang, and really nice to meet you, Katara”

“It was awesome seeing you too, Zuko! We should keep in touch” Aang said. 

Zuko nodded. People always said that, but it was more a cliche. They rarely meant it. He was about to leave, when Aang added, “I really mean it. In fact, why don’t you join us tomorrow night? We’re going to hang out with a couple of friends and get dinner, it should be really chill and fun... and don’t you dare say that you don’t want to intrude or impose or anything. I’m inviting you, I want you there” 

All these years and Aang still knew him pretty well. Zuko didn’t really have much time to think a bout it before his impulse decided to kick in, “That sounds like a lot of fun, I’d love to come!” 

“Amazing! We’ll see you tomorrow night, and I’ll text you the details!” 

“See you tomorrow” Zuko said, standing up to leave. The couple waved as Zuko exited the building. 

By now, it had gotten pretty dark outside and it was a far walk, so he made his way to the subway. Zuko’s heart fluttered as he toyed with the idea that he, Zuko Sozin, was going to go to a  social event tomorrow with  actual strangers . 

He barely recognized himself with all this putting-himself-out-there two weekends in a row. But it felt good. It felt really good. 

Zuko made his way through the unfamiliar area towards a subway station to take him home. He actually  bounced down the stairs and pulled out his pass, swiping it and entering the subway. Inside, he waited for the train to come, replaying the pleasant interactions he had this evening. 

It wasn’t too long before his train showed up and he stepped onto it, sitting down in the seat right next to the door. 

All was fine until at the next stop, a tall man entered the car, keeping his back to Zuko. He had long black hair in a half up half down bun. 

Zuko’s heart dropped. His father. 

Immediately he gripped his leg so tight his knuckles turned white and he held his breath. He was conditioned to know that one noise out of place could mean punishment. 

Suddenly, the subway car wasn’t filled with people anymore. It was just him and his father, his back still facing Zuko. 

“Zuko, I’ve had a very long, bad day. Our key investors have dropped out of the company and I had to, well, take care of it. And you know how much I hate getting my hands dirty”

“Yes father”. A 14 year old Zuko stood next to himself and in a strange out of body experience, he watched the conversation unfold.

“I need you, Zuko. I need you to be a good boy again”

“I, uh, I thought we talked about it and we didn’t want to do that anymore-“

“You wanted to help with the business, did’t you Zuko? I can’t exactly expect you to balance the books so this is how you’re going help” Ozai chuckled darkly. 

“I know, I’m just not really comfortable-“

“Not comfortable with what? Hm? Showing your father that you love me? Send in Azula then, she would be willing to prove that she loves me” 

“No, I do love you! I’m sorry, I’ll be good!”

Ozai smiled cruelly, “Perfect” 

Zuko’s stomach flipped as he remembered what happens next in this cursed memory from when he was 14. 

Suddenly, Ozai turned around only for Zuko to see that he was... not Ozai. 

As if by magic, people reappeared in their seats on the subway and the man who was definitely not his father walked out of the car and onto the platform. 

Zuko quickly realized that this too was his stop and walked out. 

In the back of his mind, Zuko noted that these panic attacks seemed to be getting worse, but he was raised in a family that didn’t believe in therapists and no one talked about their feelings, so Zuko simply figured that the issue would resolve itself sooner or later. 

On his way back, he took in deep, calming breaths trying to center himself. It was times like these that he would usually pull out his Pai Sho tile and nervously fiddle with it, but alas. 

Once he made his way back to his apartment, he fell onto his couch. Zuko would never admit it, but his heart actually fluttered at the thought of hanging out with people. He was truly excited. 

His phone, which had been discarded thoughtlessly on the coffee table hummed quietly against the surface as it lit up with a new text. 

Aang: hey zuko, i’m so glad we reconnected tonight! if youre still interested me, katara, and a couple of friends are going out tomorrow night at 7 to a bar called The Green Door Lounge. we hope to see you there! 

Zuko smiled and sent back a simple reply saying that he would be there, and for the first time in a very long time, he felt a little less alone. 

——

Saturday evening came around far too quickly for Zuko’s liking. He spent most of his Saturday morning sleeping in and then watching TV. 

Around 3:00 (4 hours until dinner), Zuko started to freak out about his wardrobe. 

He had started the day in a simple black t-shirt and jeans. By the time 3 came around, however, he was having a bit of a fashion crisis. He stared intently at the three outfits he had laid out for himself on the bed. 

On the left was a cool but casual look. A black beanie with a white t-shirt, a grey flannel, and black ripped jeans. 

Second was a bit more formal, something to make him look scholarly but still young. A button up collared white shirt and a dark greenargyle sweater to go on top with black slacks. 

And the third outfit being a new one that he was kind of anxious to try. A black, well fitting long sleeve with dark red jeans with a long plaid trench coat that had red accents in it. 

It only took him an hour and a half to make the decision, shower, style his messy mop sitting on his head that he called hair (he even blow dried it for the occasion) and step into the finished look. In the end, he had chose the third outfit. It was new and he was excited to wear it, and out of all of them he thought it really screamed “winter in NYC”, whatever that meant. 

At 4:30 (2 hours and 30 minutes until dinner) Zuko stared at the complete look in the mirror until he forced himself to be satisfied with himself. 

“You look great Zuko” he said flatly to himself in the mirror. He shifted angles and, with a bit more pep in his voice, “YOU look great, Zuko”. Still less than impressed with the effects of the not-so-motivational speech, he tried once more, “You look GREAT, Zuko!” With the most enthusiasm he could muster before deciding that this was pathetic. 

At 5:00 (2 hours until dinner) Zuko practiced his conversation skills. He started with introductions:

“Hi, my name is Zuko, nice to meet you” 

“Hi, I’m Zuko Sozin — yes, as in Sozin Tech. I work there. It’s... totally... awesome... I hate my life”

“Hello, Zuko here... fuck never mind that was weird” 

He then moved on to casual conversation:

“So how about the Met’s? Those Rangers sure are good at base - I mean football! Go Knicks!”

“My favorite memory in New York so far has got to be the time I got yelled at by a homeless person. If trauma doesn’t scream NYC, I don’t know what will!”

“You know how those stocks are, they just keep... going... ya know what I mean? No Zuko, no one ever knows what you mean ugh” 

And lastly he practiced jokes. Because everyone love a good joke, right?

“What’s worse than raining cats and dogs? Hailing taxis! Okay, that one was BAD”

“Why were they called the Dark Ages? Because they had a lot of knights!”

“What did one hat day to the other? You stay here, I’ll go up on a head!” 

At 5:30 (1 hour 30 minutes until dinner), Zuko started vigorously pacing around his apartment, thinking about how big of a mistake this was going to be. 

He spent a while going over worst case scenarios and decided that the most awful of all would be if he got there and it had turned out that they had ditched him and were making fun of him. Then his father and Jet showed up and beat up Zuko and everyone laughed. The End. 

At 6, Zuko researched the entire restaurant and knew everything from their backstory to what their specials were going to be tonight. 

At exactly 6:45, Zuko hailed a cab and his right leg didn’t stop bouncing from the minute he stepped in to the moment he stepped out onto the street in front of the bar. 

He arrived at 7:05 (as fashionably ‘late’ as he could be without freaking himself out even more) and braced himself before mustering up the courage to enter. When he did, he was greeted with a cool restaurant that he could only describe as feeling like how jazz sounded. 

There was a small stage in the back where a keyboard stood alone and quiet jazz filling the air through speakers. The entire place had a green and gold theme and thoughtfully picked decor. 

Upon arriving, he scanned the lounge to quite quickly see Aang waving him over very obviously. Zuko made his way past tables and chairs and met Aang at a large corner booth. Immediately, Zuko found himself hugged tightly. “Zuko! So glad you could make it!” 

“I’m glad you invited me” Zuko said, hugging back lightly. 

They pulled away and Aang began the introductions, “Everyone, this is Zuko! Zuko, this is Suki, Toph, and you know Katara”. Zuko stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the girl, Toph. She looked incredibly familiar. “Oh, and Sokka’s in the bathroom. But go ahead, have a seat!” 

Sokka... Toph... Zuko’s mind was short circuiting as he sat down and waved to everyone. “It’s really nice to meet you all” Zuko said, sitting down despite the bells and alarms going off in his brain. 

Suddenly he heard, “Hellloooo! I’m back, who missed me?” Accompanied by the bluest eyes he’s ever seen. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the love!!! I really appreciate comments and kudos, they make me so happy! You all are the best! :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko spends a night out with the gaang

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey friends! If you want to have some background music, definitely listen to jazz this chapter. The Miles Davis piece I pulled inspo from was Blue in Green by Miles Davis. I also recommend My One And Only Love, April In Paris, and I’ve got Rhythm - some of my favorite classic jazz pieces!

Zuko just stared - he couldn’t help it. After all, what were the odds of this entire situation happening in the most populated city in the country? He’d actually really like to hear what those odds were as he was positive that they were pretty slim. 

Sokka’s face suddenly filled with realization. “Zuko?” He asked softly, almost fondly as if they had been friends for years. 

Zuko was speechless and frankly, was having trouble processing all that was going on at the moment. 

It was none other than the boy who he caught when he slipped last week on ice. Zuko was purely entranced with his eyes. They were an even deeper blue than he remembered. And they were accentuated by his outfit, a simple vintage denim jacket with a white shirt and black jeans. 

“I’m sorry, you probably don’t even remember me, I’m Sokka, we met last week and you helped me, well, caught me when I slipped and-I know it’s kind of weird, or maybe it’s more sad, that I remember who you are but I don’t really expect you to remember me, I mean-“

“I remember you” Zuko cut off Sokka’s rambling, a bit embarrassed himself that he had been so caught up in Sokka’s beauty that he hadn’t said anything. 

Sokka blushed a deep shade of pink, “oh, good”. 

“Do you two know each other?” Aang asked bluntly. 

“Yes!” Sokka exclaimed, breaking eye contact. “Just last week, Zuko saved me from a life threatening incident between me and a patch of ice, and I never properly thanked him. Free drinks on me tonight to my savior!” 

Zuko’s heart started to race as Sokka scooted into the booth sitting directly across from him, and placing his foot so that theirs were lightly touching under the suddenly small booth. 

From his right, Toph snorted, “It was hardly a life threatening incident. If Snoozles over here has been paying more attention rather than relying on the blind person - let me say it again for emphasis -  blind person to warn him of danger, then he wouldn’t have slipped” 

Sokka scoffed in playful offense, “I thought you liked having me as your guide dog!” 

Toph burst into laughter, “Haha! You’re no guide dog you’re more like a show dog. I only keep you around because you’re pretty. Even  I  could sense the ice coming up” 

Sokka just smirked and rolled his eyes, “I’ll take that as a compliment. Besides, we wouldn’t have met Zuko had I not fallen, isn’t that right?” 

Zuko’s heart beat faster at the mention of his name, “Yeah, for sure”. 

Suki’s eyebrow raised, “But wouldn’t you have just met tonight if-”

“Not the point!” Sokka said decisively. 

“Anyway, unimportant. Who wants to hear about how I punched some guy for hitting on Toph last week?” Suki said, putting her arm around Toph and didn’t wait for a response before launching into a story complete with animated expressions and gestures. 

Zuko took a moment and looked away from Suki to see Sokka looking at him curiously. “What?” Zuko asked self consciously. 

“Nothing, you just - you have an eyelash on your cheek” Sokka said, pointing to where it was. Zuko quickly rubbed his face where Sokka had pointed to. 

“Did I get it?”

“No, but here, I’ll get it” Sokka leaned forward over the table and delicately swiped his index finger along Zuko’s cheek. From this close, Zuko could see all the specks of blue and green in Sokka’s eyes. He could smell the cologne he was wearing - lavender and cedar wood and a hint of something else... vanilla? 

All too soon, Sokka leaned back into his seat, extending his index finger with Zuko’s fallen eyelash on it. “Make a wish” Sokka said, offering his hand to Zuko. 

Zuko was bewildered, “I-what?” 

“When an eyelash falls, you’re supposed to make a wish and blow it off your finger” Sokka explained as if it were the most obvious thing. 

“I don’t really believe in wishes” 

“Your loss” Sokka instead brought his finger to his own lips and blew the eyelash away, never to be seen again. 

“What did you wish for?” Zuko asked, heart pounding. The romantic in him secretly hoped the wish had something to do with himself. 

“I can’t tell you, or else it won’t come true” Sokka said matter-of-factly. 

“Well, I hope that whatever it is, it comes true” Zuko said, and turned back to Suki’s story.

“Hey, Yue’s here! I didn’t know she was coming tonight” Katara suddenly said, and Sokka immediately turned red. 

“Sokka and Yue, sittin’ in a tree” Suki teased. 

“Shut up!” Sokka hissed. 

“Who’s Yue?” Zuko asked. Judging by the way Sokka was acting, he wasn’t about to like this Yue person. 

Aang leaned over to explain, “Sokka has been in love with Yue ever since he moved here and we started coming to this bar, really. She’s our friend and a jazz musician and she plays here often” 

Oh. 

To put it simply, he felt like an idiot. This had not turned out like Zuko had hoped it would in his head. Actually, there was nothing about this night that was remotely how he expected, making one simple statement abundantly clear: Zuko needed to get his head out of his ass and stop confusing reality with his own fantasy narrative. 

Of course Sokka wasn’t into him after only meeting him for a total of 10 minutes. 

Of course Sokka was in love with someone else, in fact Zuko didn’t even know if he was into guys. 

Of course, it all made much more sense than the silly fantasies - no - lies that he had been feeding himself for a week. 

That didn’t stop Zuko from feeling his heart plummet and drop to his toes at the news, as if all of his hope had been slashed. A mixture of sadness and shame flooded his body as he tried to prevent his face from turning red. After all it was a little creepy that he had spent his entire week daydreaming about a stranger who, he now knows, was definitely not thinking about him. 

‘Maybe she’s ugly,’ Zuko thought bitterly, a bit disappointed at himself that he was resorting to such immaturity. But whatever hope he had of Yue being ugly (whether it was conscious or subliminal) was immediately squashed when he saw her. 

Her long white hair was left down and curled, and she was wearing a long, midnight blue, cowl neck slip dress with small silver sparkles that if you stared at long enough looked as if she was wearing the night sky. Around her neck, the perfect compliment to her starry dress: a crescent moon necklace. 

To say that she was beautiful was an understatement, and this was coming from Zuko. Zuko, who was very, very gay. 

It turned out that Zuko wasn’t the only one completely entranced in the ethereal glow she seemed to have. Sokka practically drooled as she spotted the group and made her way over. 

“Yue!” Sokka cried in happiness, standing up to offer a hug. 

For a brief moment, Zuko felt jealousy surge through his body like an electric shock but quickly dismissed it. 

“Hey Sokka! Hey everyone!” Yue exclaimed excitedly after their hug. 

“Yue, this is Zuko Sozin, my friend from college” Aang introduced. 

“Nice to meet you!” She said extending her hand across the table. Zuko shook it, and immediately felt bad for wishing she was ugly. She seemed nice. 

“We didn’t know you were coming tonight, or we would’ve gotten a bigger table” Katara said, looking like she was calculating to see if there was a way she could still squeeze in Yue. 

“I wish I could hang out, but I’m playing all night tonight-“

“Hang on, am I the only one who heard what Aang said?” Toph asked impatiently, cutting off Yue. The whole table turned to stare at her in confusion. 

“Did you say Zuko  Sozin ? As in the best tech company: Sozin Tech? As in the brand of half the electronics in my apartment: Sozin Tech?”

Zuko gulped. It was a question that he had been dreading to hear. He barely registered Suki lightly punching Toph in the arm saying something about cutting people off, but he could tell Suki was interested in the answer too. 

“I-uh, yes. Ozai Sozin, the CEO... is my father” Zuko glanced over the faces of the people in front of him, trying to gauge their reaction. 

Aang looked guilty and sympathetic. Zuko had spent his entire college career trying not to get preferential treatment for his family name. But he could never be angry with Aang, who looked like he was about to find one hundred new ways to apologize. 

Katara looked indifferent, but he’s sure that Aang had told her about Zuko’s family name before they even met. 

Toph and Suki’s jaws were practically on the floor, Yue looked stunned but impressed, and Sokka just smiled. Not like he was laughing at Zuko, but as if he was reassuring him it would be alright, if not slightly sympathetic. 

In the end, it ended up being Sokka who cut the silence first, “I guess that means that you should be the one buying me a drink,” Sokka joked, and Zuko let out a half-hearted laugh that sounded more like a wheeze than anything else. 

Embarrassed and coughing to clear his throat from the fucking  wheeze that he had just let out, Zuko reached for his drink and downed it. Anything to make this conversation go by quicker. 

And then again, silence. 

So Zuko panicked. 

“How many New Yorker’s does it take to screw in a lightbulb? None of your damn business!” Zuko started sweating, unsure of where that came from. Why had he spent his time rehearsing jokes?? 

“I tell bad jokes to diffuse awkward situations too!” Sokka exclaimed. 

“Sokka!” Katara scolded from across the table, as if she was implying that this wasn’t an awkward situation (it most certainly was).

Toph was about to say something else, when Aang cut in, “I am so excited to hear Yue play tonight! Aren’t you all? She’s going to sound amazing as always and I just, I love jazz. Jazz is great, do you like jazz Zuko?” 

Zuko appreciated the change in subject and latched onto it, hoping to steer clear from the previous topic, “Yes Aang, I do like jazz. I’m excited to hear Yue play... whatever instrument it is that she plays!” 

The group seemed to take the (in Zuko’s opinion) extremely obvious hint that Zuko didn’t want to talk about this, and their surprised expressions eventually dissolved from their faces. 

“I play piano. Speaking of, I have to go warm up. It has been so nice meeting you, Zuko and seeing you all again. I hope you enjoy the show!” Yue said, and left the table. 

Sokka watched her dreamily as she left and Zuko scolded himself for noticing. As soon as Yue disappeared behind a door, Sokka slipped back to a more normal version of himself. 

“So... next round on me?” Sokka asked and the whole table erupted in cheers. “Zuko, can you help me get the drinks?” 

Zuko perked up at the mention of his name, really surprised that Sokka chose him... but after all he was sitting in the end seat. Zuko dismissed it. No more turning innocent friendly moments into a fake romance that doesn’t exist. 

Zuko stood up and headed over to the bar with Sokka. Before they could start ordering, Sokka gently grabbed Zuko’s shoulder and turned him around.

“Look, Zuko, I’m really sorry about them, I won’t pry if you don’t want to talk about family. I totally get it I wouldn’t want to talk about my family to a bunch of strangers either...” Zuko could barely pay attention to what Sokka was saying, his hand was still resting warmly on his bicep and the skin there started to tingle with goosebumps. 

“...Their intentions are good, just some of them, cough, Toph, can be a little blunt sometimes. But if you ever need to talk to someone... I mean, I know I haven’t known you for that long, but people say I’m a good listener and I know what it’s like to have family issues. But, uh, what I’m trying to say is just that you can talk to me... if you want. I’m willing to listen” Sokka ended his rambling with a friendly squeeze of his shoulder and it’s all Zuko can think about as he give an appreciative nod. 

Sokka turned to order, but came back with one last thought, “And by the way, don’t let Toph intimidate you. She may act all tough and rugged, but her secret? She’s a Beifong”. 

Zuko’s eyes widened. “A Beifong!? As in the diplomats, the Beifongs?” 

Sokka chuckled, “You sound just like she did 10 minutes ago”. He turned to the bar and started ordering beers and some other fun sounding drinks that Zuko had never heard of for their table. 

While they waited for the drinks to be made, they chatted, keeping the subjects light. Zuko really took note of how touchy Sokka was. If he thought that Aang was a bit touchy, Sokka was on a whole new level. It was hard for Zuko to decipher whether each touch was friendly, or something more. Better to air on the side of caution and say friendly. 

When their drinks were done, Sokka handed Zuko a few to help him carry back to the table. Zuko struggled to balance all the glasses. He followed Sokka’s lead back to the table and watched as Sokka gracefully set down all the drinks in his hands before assisting Zuko with his. 

Zuko surprised himself by managing to not drop any of his drinks on his way back from the bar, and sat back down with the group. They spent a little while longer talking, getting to know each other and ordering food, when suddenly they heard live music coming from the stage. 

There was no announcement, just the start of music. He saw Yue up on stage with a quintet, playing an upbeat swing tune. Immediately, their booth halted all conversation to listen. 

Zuko had always liked music but had never really listened to jazz, and definitely not live jazz. And from the first few bars, he was already beyond words. 

Quickly, he decided his favorite part was the bass. Always so sturdy, always so sure. No matter how far out the saxophonist would go, the bassist would reel her back in with the steady “dum dum dum” of bouncing notes. But it wasn’t boring. 

In his life, Zuko had heard a lot of classical music and in classical music, the bass lines tended to bore him, but not here. 

It twisted and turned and when the bass player got a solo, Zuko could have leapt out of his seat, ran up on stage, and hugged her right there. 

This was not to say that the other parts weren’t interesting, that was far from the truth, but Zuko was partial to the bass, and the way he could physically feel it in his soul. 

This right here is why he chose to live in the city. In that moment, he realized that this is what he could have been doing all those years that he stayed late working. He finally felt alive, like the music was taking him on a journey somewhere. Zuko had never felt the urge to dance more strongly than in that moment. It felt wrong to not be moving, so he compromised by tapping his foot and fingers to the rhythm. 

Zuko was the first to begin clapping when they finished their first song. He was soon joined by the entire booth erupting in support for their favorite musician. “We love you Yue!” Sokka shouted over the applause. 

Once the clapping died down, the saxophonist leaned into a microphone. “Thank you everyone, for all your support. That was an original piece called ‘Quick Step’. Up next we’re going to play a Miles Davis piece featuring our lovely pianist, Yue and our trumpet player, Kari!”

The lights on the stage darkened and only lit up the piano and trumpet players as everyone else took a seat. The next piece was slow and beautiful. The way the trumpet and piano complemented each other made Zuko’s heart soar. Everyone on stage looked like they couldn’t help but be lost in the music, even those that weren’t playing looked enchanted. 

Over the next 30 minutes, the group listened to the music, ate good food, and chatted quietly until the band stopped for an intermission. They were all having an engaging discussion, when Zuko noticed something small and gold, glimmering out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see a man absentmindedly tossing a small gold object in the air as he headed for the door. 

‘It couldn’t be...’ Zuko thought, trying to get a good look. 

“Are you okay, Zuko?” A voice asked from the table, but Zuko barely registered it. 

“Yeah, uh, just give me a minute, I’ll be right back,” Zuko said, standing up and leaving the group behind. 

He slipped through the crowd deftly, and exited the building into the now snowy New York City landscape. He looked left and saw no sign of anyone, then turned right. Bingo. 

“Excuse me, uh, sir!” Zuko called out while doing an awkward half-jog to catch up with him. The man didn’t seem to notice Zuko at all. “Uh, sir!” He called out again from right behind him. This time the man stopped dead in his tracks and turned around slowly. Zuko hadn’t noticed how tall and strong looking this guy was until he was a mere 2 feet from him. 

Zuko carefully took a small step backwards. “So this is kinda a weird question, but I was wondering if I could, uh, see the tile that you’re flipping in your hand?” The man didn’t say anything, he just stared at Zuko, looking annoyed. 

Zuko continued, “You see, I just lost a Pai Sho tile last that was really special to me, and it just kinda looked like the one you were flipping earlier so-“ 

“Are you accusing me of stealing, kid?” The man took a step forward towards Zuko intimidatingly, and Zuko took another step back

“No! No, definitely no! I-I just wanted to see it to see if it was mine-“

“Well it’s not yours. It’s mine”

“But if I could just see it, I’d really appreciate it, I promise, I don’t mean any harm” 

“Get out of here, kid before you get into trouble” 

Zuko was beginning to get increasingly frustrated, “Come on, I’m not even asking for much, I just want to look at it!” 

“Hey! You better not talk to me like that-“

“Woah! Okay! Let’s all calm down over here” Sokka suddenly appeared by Zuko’s side, looking extremely worried. “When you left, we figured someone should go check on you” 

“You and your friend need to beat it or both of you will regret it” the man snarled, puffing out his chest angrily. 

Protectively, Sokka’s hand grabbed Zuko’s forearm, and Zuko tried to ignore the tingling he felt in his spine. 

“I’m sure Zuko didn’t mean any harm by... what is it you were doing out here?”

“Asking to look at the tile in his hands” 

“By doing that” Sokka finished. 

“This is stupid, it’s not even a tile, it’s just a gold dollar coin” 

Zuko’s heart dropped and immediately felt like an idiot. 

“Oh, that’s not my tile. I’m really sorry to bother you” Zuko said, and the man just grunted in response, rolled his eyes, and walked away. 

“So, what was that about?” Sokka asked. 

“Oh, last week I lost a gold Pai Sho tile that my uncle had given me and it meant a lot to me but it’s stupid” 

“That’s not stupid” Sokka said so sincerely that somehow Zuko knew with certainty that that’s what Sokka believed. “I can help you look for it if you want!” He offered. 

“Thanks, but I wouldn’t even know where to look for it. I don’t know when I lost it or where or anything. I just know last week when I checked my wallet, it wasn’t there” Zuko sighed. 

“I’m really sorry, I hope you find it soon. If there’s anything I can do let me know” Sokka placed a hand on Zuko’s arm reassuringly. Zuko got lost in the oceans that were Sokka’s eyes. 

“Hey, it’s snowing!” Zuko turned to see the rest of their group coming out of the restaurant. 

“Let’s build a snowman!” Aang suggested enthusiastically and everyone agreed. “How are you two? Is everything okay?”

Zuko nodded, “Yeah, everything’s fine” 

Aang nodded, happy with the answer, and began to walk away. 

“Wait, I still haven’t paid yet” Zuko stepped towards the restaurant. 

“Don’t worry about it, we covered it. You can just pay next time!” 

Zuko’s heart soared. Next time? There was going to be a next time? He could barely contain the smile that was growing on his face as he joined the group on their way to make snowmen. 

“What are you smiling about?” Sokka asked looking playfully curious. 

“Oh, nothing. Just happy to be here” 

And for the first time in a while, Zuko really meant it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your support!!! Unfortunately I’m going back to school so I’m getting busier but I’m really excited to continue this piece, just unfortunately not as frequently as before. 
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are very much appreciated! :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introduction to Azula and Sokka visits Zuko

Over the next few weeks, Zuko afforded himself more breaks at work. He noticed that when he did, more good things started to happen to him. For example, when he took a one and a half hour lunch break instead of his usual 30 minutes, he found that he had enough time to take a long walk and stretch, thus avoiding his typical afternoon leg cramp. 

When he took a break to get some tea and hang out in the break room, he had a pleasant conversation with one of his coworkers, Liam. 

However, the only caveat was that when he found himself returning to work, he had no desire or motivation to get anything done. He was lazily looking over some daily reports when his phone softly buzzed on the table. Immediately his attention was at his there.

After only their second time hanging out, Zuko had been added to a group chat with Aang, Katara, Toph, Suki, Yue, and Sokka and they were always texting in it. Not that Zuko minded, it was nice to be a part of something for once. 

He snickered softly as he scrolled over the long chain of text messages. 

Over the past few weeks, he had gotten closer with everyone in the friend group, but particularly Sokka - and not just because he had a crush on him. For some reason, they just clicked. Sokka’s strengths complimented Zuko’s weaknesses and vice versa, they had the same sense of humor, and somehow could always read each other. Zuko was practically enamored, but there was no way he could let Sokka know. Sokka was always going on and on about Yue and-

“What the hell are you doing, Zuko?”

Zuko snapped out of his trance, whipping his head around to see his sister, Azula, standing in front of his desk, arms crossed and one eyebrow raised. 

“I should be asking you the same question... why are you here?” Zuko questioned putting his phone down. He hadn’t seen Azula in months, yet here she was, sighing loudly and plopping into one of the chairs in front of his desk. 

“What, a girl can’t visit her older brother once in a while?” She asked, innocently smiling. Zuko gave her an ‘I don’t believe you’ look and she sighed, shoulders slumping slightly in defeat, only to go straight back up to their position. 

“Azula, you know we’re not that type of siblings. What’s going on?” 

Azula grimaced and took a deep breath, trying to muster up the courage to say what she wanted to say. 

“I’m here because... I need... a hmodge” 

Zuko raised his eyebrow in confusion, “A what?” 

She shifted uncomfortably looking around, “I need a... a job” she said quietly. Zuko couldn’t believe what he was hearing. 

“A what?” He repeated, stunned. 

“Zuko please don’t make me say it again” she said, desperation lacing her words. 

Azula had left Sozin Tech a while ago, and not on great terms. She used to run this branch and do a lot more of the real boss-like things before she quit and Zuko stepped in. She was actually much better at the job than Zuko was as he had to hire a brand new team just to do what Azula did by herself. 

However, right before she left she had a huge mental breakdown at a rather large and public meeting. Not only did many big clients leave, but Azula’s tear stained, mascara dripping face was plastered on the highlights page of a dozen different big magazines. 

And their father had been  livid . He fired Azula instantaneously and promoted Zuko to her position. Zuko didn’t like to think about the meetings he had with his father following that incident. 

Shortly after, she left NYC and moved back to their hometown in Albany citing that she just couldn’t stay any longer, and Zuko always just assumed it was because of the tabloids. 

After all, she was stalked by news reporters for at least a month afterwords before she left. They regularly made camp outside of his and Azula’s apartment, and she would spend days not leaving the apartment just to avoid interacting with them. 

“You want a job? Here? Why?” Zuko questioned.

“Ever since I left, I’ve been living in Albany in a small apartment that dad was financing. The deal was that he would pay for me to live there and I would be a good daughter, and not get into any trouble - including weekly dinners together and... Anyway I just couldn’t stand living there anymore. I tried to get a job elsewhere, but no one will hire me because of what happened when I was here. Please, Zuko I’m asking sincerely” 

Zuko sighed, rubbing his fingers underneath the smooth expanse of desk, nervously “Azula, you know that I would hire you in a heartbeat” he hoped his sincerity came across despite the cliche phrasing, “but you also know that I can’t. There would be so many questions and it would make it back to Ozai and he would fire you immediately, and then fire me for hiring you. But if you want, you can stay at my apartment, free of charge. Your old bedroom hasn’t been used since you lived there”

“No, it’s fine. I can’t stand using dad’s money anymore - no offense. I’m staying with Mai and Ty Lee right now, but I’m going to have to start paying rent soon” Azula hung her head, “I knew it was a long shot and I get why you can’t hire me, I just- Zuko you know me. You know that outburst was so uncharacteristic, yet it’s ruining my life” 

“I know, I know. And I’m really sorry ‘Zula... But, I might actually know of a job that would be interested in hiring you!” Zuko gave a small smile. 

“You do?” Azula perked up immediately. “Thank you, Zuko!”

“Haha, don’t thank me yet,” Zuko rubbed his neck awkwardly, knowing that she wouldn’t like his answer, “I was thinking... maybe you could work with uncle Iroh” 

Azula’s face dropped, “You want me to serve tea and bus tables for that tea guzzling disgrace of an uncle?” 

“Well a job’s a job... and who knows maybe Iroh has some upper-management issues with the tea shop for you to help with!”

“Knowing Iroh I already know the problem: him drinking away the product” Azula huffed. Azula and Iroh didn’t have the best relationship. In fact, they barely had one at all. Throughout Zuko’s youth, Azula always thought Iroh favored Zuko over her which made him and Zuko grow closer over the years, but tore Iroh and Azula apart. She never had that same relationship with their uncle, and she was definitely upset about it. 

“Just give it a shot. Besides, worst case scenario Iroh is your boss and you get to drink tea while you work” Zuko joked, but quickly realized it was a bit ill timed as Azula slumped in the chair, crossing her arms and huffing loudly. 

Zuko decided to continue, “I know that you and Iroh haven’t had the closest relationship...” 

Azula laughed sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

“...but I think that spending some time with him would be good. He’s a good man and he helped me become a better person” 

“I’ll think about it,” Azula said shortly, grabbing her purse from the floor. 

“Wait, let me walk you out” Zuko offered, standing up, and opening the door for his sister. 

As they walked down the hallway, they could hear the quiet whispers about Azula. She acted like she didn’t care but Zuko could see right through the lie, the person she pretended to be. He shot angry glances at those who were whispering and escorted her quickly out of the building. 

When they got out to Azula’s car, he turned to talk to her. “Are you okay?” 

“I’ll be fine,” Azula tuned to her car to busy herself by fiddling with the key. 

“I’m here for you” Zuko said, hoping it would help. 

“Mhmm,” she responded quietly, opening the car door, but Zuko wasn’t happy with that response. 

“Azula, I really am here for you. You’re my sister, I love you”

Azula chucked, “Okay”

It was a slightly better answer. Zuko nearly reached down for a hug when he remembered that Azula and him didn’t really do that, so

He just stepped away from the car and waved goodbye, and waited as she drove off. 

He wished he could be the big brother he always wanted to be and give her the job, but life was more complicated than that. 

He returned back to his office to find his phone still full of messages. Amongst all the memes and sarcastic group chat comments, one message stood out. 

Sokka: hey, do you want to hang out? 

Zuko’s heart raced and he felt sparks run up his arms. The message was to him, and only him. He fumbled with his phone as he typed out his reply as fast as he could. 

Zuko: Yeah, for sure. When?

He began pacing in excitement, trying to contain the nervous excitement in his bones. Almost immediately, his phone buzzed back. 

Sokka: do you want to grab dinner tonight?

Zuko had to physically restrain himself to not jump for glee at the message. He forcefully reminded himself that they were friends, and that this wasn’t a date, they were just a couple of pals. Hanging out. Getting dinner. It’s chill.

Zuko: Of course, where do you want to go?

Sokka: i was kinda hoping we’d be able to get takeout and eat it at your place or something? i would offer my apartment but it’s not too big

Zuko had to sit himself down as he stared at the screen. Not only did Sokka want to hang out alone, he wanted to visit Zuko’s apartment? Zuko could die happily on the spot as he smiled from ear to ear.

Zuko: That sounds great, I’ll see you tonight

He proceeded to send Sokka his address and couldn’t stop smiling. Even when he returned to work, all he could think about was hanging out with Sokka... as friends, of course. 

————

Later that night, Zuko was ready for Sokka. He cleaned the apartment, and even set out a few scented candles because who doesn’t love a scented candle?

He paced nervously in his black jeans and dark green sweater that he had picked out. He had meticulously gone for “cute but casual”. 

There was suddenly a light knocking coming from his front door. Sokka had arrived. Zuko wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans and grabbed the door handle. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves before opening the door. 

And there stood Sokka, smiling a small goofy smile, wearing tightly fitting black sweatpants and a blue deep v-neck shirt that made Zuko feel hot all over. 

“Zuko!” Sokka exclaimed wearily, throwing all his weight around him and tightly enveloping him in his arms. Zuko wasn’t quite used to how much hugging happened in their group, but he was slowly adapting. He gingerly placed his arms around Sokka, lightly squeezing. He took a small whiff of the cologne he was wearing and smiled. It smelled uniquely Sokka. 

“What’s up, buddy?” Zuko asked, trying to sound as normal as possible as Sokka pulled away from the hug. 

“Oh, nothing much. I just wanted to hang out with you,” he said with a small smile that wasn’t nearly as big and animated as Sokka’s real one. 

“What’s going on? Are you okay?” Zuko asked, immediately regretting it. Did friends usually care this much about each other’s wellbeing? Did friends usually notice when something was wrong this quickly? Zuko tried not to read into it. 

Sokka chuckled softly, “I think I need to be a little more drunk to talk about it” Sokka smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“Why do you want to get drunk on a weeknight? Was it really that bad of a day?” Zuko asked, a bit concerned. It wasn’t really like Sokka to want to get drunk in general. 

“You could say that. I’ll tell you more about it when I’m drunker... plus Thursday is barely a weekday” Sokka replied before changing the subject, “I think this is the first time I’ve been to your apartment. It’s... really nice” Sokka was staring at the relatively high ceilings and artwork that lined the walls. 

Zuko laughed nervously, “Haha, thanks. It’s not really my style, but it’s not like I chose to live here”. There was a small silence as Sokka continued to stare in wonder at the expensive apartment. 

“So, um, alcohol” Zuko said, turning to the kitchen to grab Sokka a beer. Sokka trailed along behind him, silently marveling at the apartment around him. 

They reached the kitchen and Zuko was suddenly self conscious about the way that Sokka was just staring at everything, as if he hadn’t seen an overly expensive apartment in his entire life. 

“So beer okay?” Zuko asked, trying to snap Sokka out of his trance-like state. Sokka blinked and turned back to Zuko. 

“Do you have anything stronger?” 

Zuko winced slightly, his inner conflict rising. On one hand, it was a Thursday night and they both had work tomorrow. Sokka would never know if he was lying about what alcohol he had in his fridge. 

On the other hand, lying was not his specialty and Sokka was a grown man who could make his own decisions.

“Yeah, I have some vodka too” Zuko went with the truth. 

“Get me that” Sokka said, taking a seat at the island. 

“You want just straight vodka? You don’t want me to make a mixed drink?” 

Sokka shook his head, “A couple shots would be nice” 

Zuko grabbed the vodka, a beer for himself, and a shot glass and brought it all to the counter. 

Sokka immediately reached for the bottle and poured himself a shot and throwing it back all before Zuko could even sit down. 

“So this day of yours must’ve been pretty bad,” Zuko said, watching Sokka take another shot. 

Sokka smiled unconvincingly, “It wasn’t great”. 

Zuko’s grimaced and just watched in awe (and was slightly impressed) as Sokka continued to silently take shot after shot. Zuko didn’t even touch his own beer.

After 6 shots, Zuko decided to do something, “Okay, that’s it Sokka, I’m cutting you off”. 

“Calm down, I’m not even drunk” Sokka argued, pulling the bottle closer to him. 

“Not yet. It’s all going to hit you pretty soon and I don’t want you throwing up” Zuko reached for the bottle but Sokka pulled it away again and Zuko let out an exhausted sigh, “Give me the bottle”. 

“Hmm, no” Sokka said, stealing a sip straight from the bottle. 

“Sokka!” Zuko scolded and reached for the bottle again, but Sokka stood up and held it above Zuko’s head. 

“Come and get it shorty” Sokka ran into the other room and Zuko chased him, jumping for the bottle and failing to reach. 

Zuko was by no means short, but definitely a few inches shorter than Sokka, “I’m not even that much shorter than you asshole!” 

Zuko lunged at Sokka, tackling him onto the couch behind him, and grabbing the bottle and letting out a victory cry. 

“Hey, give that back!” Sokka wriggled underneath Zuko, grabbing at the bottle.

Zuko dropped the bottle out of Sokka’s reach and used his newly free hands to pin down Sokka’s. “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong or are you going to drink yourself to death?” 

Sokka’s big blue eyes, looking more innocent and vulnerable than usual met Zuko’s golden ones as Sokka gave up struggling under Zuko’s grip. 

“Probably the ladder” Sokka huffed, looking away. 

“Sokka” Zuko said softly, “You are not going to drink yourself to death. Just tell me what’s going on and we can work through this”. Zuko eased up on Sokka’s arms and sat in a position where they were facing each other and ready for a conversation. 

“No, I’m not drunk enough”

“Sokka, come on”

“Okay, okay. I think I’m going to get laid off, I’m a failure and a fool for thinking I could survive in this city, and I don’t think Yue reciprocates the love I have for her” Sokka hung his head. 

Zuko’s heart ached seeing Sokka sad like that, wishing he could just make it all better, “What makes you think that?” 

“They’re talking a lot about how they need to cut people at work and how people need to go and I’m certainly not the best one there” tears began to well in his eyes, but he quickly wiped them away. 

“I’m really sorry, Sokka. I’m sure you’re a brilliant engineer. With that big brain of yours I can’t imagine anyone wanting to lay off you” Zuko boldly rested his hand on Sokka’s knee, but Sokka didn’t seem to notice. 

“Mm. Engineer” Sokka said disdainfully, looking into the distance. “And Yue... lovely Yue. I love her so much she’s so pretty” The alcohol was starting to work its magic as Sokka’s tone changed entirely. “She’s like, as pretty as the like... the moon!” Sokka exclaimed. 

Zuko nodded, a slight grimace on his face, “Yes, she is very pretty”

Sokka’s smile fell, “You don’t like her” he accused. 

“Don’t be ridiculous, of course I like her Sokka”

Sokka stared at him disbelievingly for a minute, but then burst into laughter, “Of course you like her” he repeated to himself, “But not as much as me, right?” 

“No, not as much as you” Zuko reassured. 

Sokka suddenly stood up, wobbling slightly and headed out of the living room. 

“Where are you going?” 

“Shh! I’m exploring! This apartment is so big, there is an echo, echo, echo!”

Zuko stood up and followed Sokka through his apartment, showing him the rooms. 

“And this is the bathroom”

Sokka started playing with the faucet and giggling. “You know, the shower is just one big faucet, and we’re just big hands getting washed” Sokka stated thoughtfully as Zuko rolled his eyes. 

“Okay Aristotle, let’s go”

“Fine” Sokka said reluctantly, but not before scooping up a handful of water and throwing it at Zuko. 

“Hey!” He shouted, playfully offended as he scooped up some more water aiming it back at Sokka. 

“Oh, so that’s how it’s going to be”

They proceeded to have a water fight, hurling scoops of water at each other. After Zuko’s hair was wet and shirt was soaked, Zuko called it off, “Okay, okay, truce!” He laughed out. 

“Truce” Sokka repeated, and their wet palms locked together in a firm handshake. But Sokka didn’t let go of Zuko’s hand. 

“Hey, give me my hand back” Zuko joked. 

“Mmm, no” Sokka giggled as Zuko struggled to pull his hand away. 

“You’re pretty” Sokka suddenly burst out. 

Zuko was taken aback by the comment and didn’t really know how to respond. Usually when he got compliments he just brushed them off. “Oh, not really, but thank you”. 

This seemed to offend Sokka, “Pretty” he said more aggressively. 

Zuko brought his free hand up to his face to point at his scar, “Scarred. Yellow eyes. Not pretty” 

Sokka suddenly dropped Zuko’s hand to reach up and cup his cheek, his thumb underneath the scar as he studied his face, “Pretty scar, golden eyes, definitely pretty. No take backs” 

Zuko swallowed the lump in his throat as he noticed how close together they were. 

Suddenly a ring came at the doorbell. 

“Pizza!” Sokka exclaimed, running towards the door. 

“Wait, when did you order pizza?” Zuko called after him, not wiping the water off of his face. 

Sure enough, there was pizza at the door. Sokka paid for it, and brought it back into the apartment, throwing it on the counter. “Mmm meat lovers. Fuck you Aang, I’m eating meat tonight!” 

Sokka then reached for the vodka that Zuko had carelessly discarded earlier, taking a gulp straight from it. 

“No, Sokka! Stop it. I told you that you were cut off” Zuko ran over and grabbed the bottle from him, putting it back in its rightful place in the fridge. 

“You’re no fun at all, Zuko Sozin” Sokka stated, grabbing a slice of pizza. 

Zuko nodded, he wasn’t wrong. 

They chatted a little bit, keeping it light as they both ate surprisingly delicious pizza. 

“I have a secret” Sokka said quietly with a small laugh once they had both finished the pizza. 

“Oh? What’s your secret?” Zuko asked, and Sokka leaned in closer. 

“I’m not an engineer” 

Zuko’s eyebrows furrowed. “Of course you’re an engineer, that’s what it says on your diploma” 

“No, silly. I’m not an engineer, right now”

Zuko still didn’t really understand, “You mean you already lost your job?” 

Sokka giggled almost ironically, “No, I never had one to begin with. I’m a bartender”. Zuko didn’t know how to process that information. “Ever wonder why I won’t let anyone to my apartment? No money” He sighed.

“And they’re firing people at your bar?” Zuko asked. 

“Yes, and I’m no good at bar tending. I can’t even do all the fancy stuff like Dan can” Sokka frowned deeply. 

“Sokka, I’m so sorry. If you need help looking for a job-“

“No! Enough sadness, I want to dance” Sokka stood up and pulled out his phone, blasting Dancing Queen by ABBA off of it. 

Zuko chuckled and began to clean up.

“No, Zuko, dance with me” Sokka danced his way over to Zuko and grabbed his hands, tugging softly. 

“I’ve got to clean up” Zuko fought against the way he felt when Sokka grabbed his hands. 

‘Sokka likes Yue, he doesn’t like you. Sokka likes Yue, he doesn’t like you’ Zuko repeated the mantra in his head as he tried to continue to clean up. 

“I guess we’re doing this the hard way” Sokka grabbed Zuko by the waist and dragged him over to the dance floor (living room). 

“Sokka I’m not even a good dancer” Zuko said, standing stiffly next to Sokka who hadn’t really stopped dancing. 

“Bullshit, I bet you’re the best dancer ever,” Sokka started laughing as he got more into the music. 

‘Well,’ Zuko thought, ‘what do I have to lose?’

Zuko started dancing awkwardly and sincerely hoped that Sokka wouldn’t remember this tomorrow. 

They danced together for a good 30 minutes. Every time Zuko had wanted to stop, Sokka played another song that he really wanted to dance to. But after 30 minutes they were both tired. 

“I know this wasn’t the plan, but can I crash here tonight?” Sokka asked through a yawn. 

“Yeah, of course” Zuko said, without thinking about how he had work the next day. Zuko was about to show Sokka to the guest bedroom, but Sokka walked into Zuko’s room, collapsing on the bed. 

“Mmm, comfy” he said with a smile and closed eyes taking in a deep breath through his nose. 

Zuko walked over to his closet and pulled out two pairs of pajamas, one for each of them, setting one on the bed. 

“Well I’m going to go sleep in the guest bedroom, if there’s anything-“

“No, don’t sleep in the guest room” Sokka said, almost sadly with big wide eyes. 

Zuko chuckled, “Where would I sleep then?”

“Right here,” Sokka was talking like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I’m not going to kick you out of your own bed. Besides, we have to finish this slumber party with a movie and we can’t do that if you’re in the guest room” Sokka pouted. 

Zuko debated what to do, and decided if they were just friends that Zuko really had no reason to not sleep in the same bed Sokka. “Okay, well I’m going to go get changed” Zuko said, and headed to the bathroom. 

He quickly got changed and glanced at his reflection in the mirror. He ran a finger lightly over the scar the sat there, thinking back to when Sokka’s hand was there and what he had said. 

‘He was drunk, Zuko. Don’t read into it’ His mind urged as he dropped his hand.

When Zuko left the bathroom, he was greeted with Sokka who was now standing with his back to Zuko, wearing Zuko’s red pajama pants. Zuko froze, staring at the low rising bottoms that were just the slightest bit too tight and the way they really showed off Sokka’s perfect ass. 

His back muscles were defined and definitely bigger than Zuko’s, but not too big as to make Sokka look too bulky. No, at first glance Sokka seemed on the smaller side but under further inspection and without a shirt, he definitely took care of his body and worked out. 

Sokka suddenly turned around, holding the shirt in his hands. “Oh, I tried on the shirt but it wasn’t big enough” Sokka explained. 

Zuko’s brain was going a million miles a minute as he tried to take in every detail of this moment without making it look like he was staring. 

“I-erm, it’s okay, I-do you-um I have a bigger shirt if you uh need it” Zuko stuttered out, praying to whatever spirits were listening that Sokka didn’t remember this moment later. 

“If you don’t mind, I usually sleep shirtless anyway” Sokka said, folding up the t-shirt messily before plopping onto the bed and turning on the TV, scrolling through the options. 

Zuko could feel something stirring in his pants, and prayed that the pajamas were loose enough to hide it until he could get it to go away. 

‘Think Zuko, what’s not sexy? Your grandfather... a bee sting... tits... your dad’ Zuko cringed at the last one, not wanting to think about the complicated relationship that came with his father right now. 

“Why are you just standing there?” Sokka asked. 

“Uh, nothing, no reason” Zuko said quickly and joined Sokka in bed, purposefully keeping his distance. 

Sokka flipped on a random movie that Zuko had never heard of and they both watched. 

About an hour into the movie, Sokka started to get sleepy - not that Zuko was staring or anything, he just happened to notice Sokka’s shoulders slumping and eyes fluttering between open and closed, head starting to turn to the side in an adorable tired way.

“Cold,” Sokka mumbled, half asleep. Zuko’s eyebrows raised in confusion, and Sokka started to shiver. 

Zuko scooted over and reached to pull up the blanket over Sokka’s body. 

“Mm, warm,” Sokka mumbled, but instead of latching onto the blanket, he latched onto Zuko, arms wrapping around his torso, squeezing tightly. Zuko’s face went red and he didn’t know how to get out of this situation. 

He could embrace the situation... the thought crossed his mind. After all, it was Sokka who had hugged him. And as long as he got up before Sokka, really what was the harm? They were just two dudes... cuddling. Totally normal. 

Zuko turned off the TV and slowly backed into the bed and made himself and Sokka comfortable. He laid down on his back, left arm holding Sokka as Sokka’s head rested on his chest and arms completely wrapped around Zuko. He let his hand lazily run through Sokka’s hair as he gently pulled out the wolf tail that was always in, tossing it on the side table.

Sokka sighed contently on Zuko’s chest, trying to cuddle into Zuko more, long legs intertwining with his underneath the sheets. “Warm” Sokka repeated in a sleep induced whisper. 

Zuko smiled, slightly lowering his head to Sokka’s hair before falling into a deep sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all like this chapter! I’ve been pretty busy with school recently which is why it took longer to upload. 
> 
> As always, let me know what you think in the comments! :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko spends his morning with Sokka, has a meeting with his father, and attends Aang’s Christmas party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: mentions of abuse, non con, and rape

Zuko woke up the next morning per usual, with the sun. He could feel Agni shining his bright, warm rays onto his face, but for some reason he didn’t want to get up. 

He was warm, and felt safe, and whole. Like the outside world didn’t matter and all that did matter was him and his bed. As long as he kept clutching onto his pillow, everything would be okay. 

He breathed in the calming smells of vanilla and musk, nuzzling his face further into something fuzzy, planting a small kiss. 

He slowly opened his drowsy eyes to see skin and hair. Dark skin and hair that was most definitely not his own. 

He shifted in confusion and heard a light groan from the person he was currently hugging as they pulled him back in and hugged tighter. 

Zuko’s mouth dropped in shock when he realized it was Sokka who he had been cuddling all night, memories instantly flooding back. 

‘Poor Sokka, who didn’t deserve all the shit that was going on in his life’ He thought and began to absentmindedly stroke Sokka’s hair, running his fingers through the short locks. He looked so pretty with his hair down. 

Zuko froze, realizing what he was doing, and pulled his hand away. 

His foggy brain was starting wake up to actually analyze the situation. Slowly, he grabbed Sokka’s hand and lifted it up, providing an opening for him to escape out of. 

He carefully placed a pillow into Sokka’s arms effectively replacing himself and scooted out of Sokka’s grasp and out of the bed. 

Sokka subconsciously practically whined at the loss of Zuko (a noise that made Zuko feel more hot all over than he’s willing to admit) but ended up hugging the pillow and sighing contently. 

Sokka looked so innocent, sleeping there. So peaceful, like whatever awful things were going on in his life didn’t exist in those moments. The sad look in his eye Zuko had seen last night was wiped away. The brave face he had been hiding all of this behind was relaxed and vulnerable. The way the corner of his mouth twitched up into a small smile, and when he smiled he hugged the pillow tighter. 

Zuko stopped himself in his tracks, shaking the thoughts from his head, and headed to the bathroom to shower and get changed. 

He was already late for work, but better late than to not go in at all, right? 

He stripped and stepped into the scalding hot stream of water, letting out a sigh that he felt he had been holding for days. 

He quickly showered and dried himself off, leaving the bathroom in only a towel. When he came back to his bedroom, however, Sokka was... gone? 

Confused, he looked around the small room not seeing him anywhere. “Sokka?” He called out.

He exited the room and immediately smelled breakfast food? 

He walked over towards the kitchen and saw Sokka, still wearing only Zuko’s tight pajama pants, cooking something. For a moment, Zuko could only gape at Sokka’s body, appreciating the ways the muscles moved under his skin. For the second time in less than 24 hours he was practically drooling over the man. 

He almost lost it when Sokka stretched his arms by pulling them behind his back, muscles flexing. 

“Are you making breakfast?” He asked abruptly. 

Sokka jumped a little, not realizing that he wasn’t alone and turned to Zuko. 

“Oh! Hello! Good morning, yes, I am making breakfast, I hope that’s okay? I just couldn’t sit in bed and do nothing so I figured I would try to help out” Sokka gave a sheepish smile and a cute shrug. 

“Um, yeah, that’s fine” Zuko stood awkwardly, suddenly aware that he wasn’t wearing anything but a towel and his hair was sopping wet, water dripping down his neck. “I’m going to get changed, and yeah” 

Zuko turned to go to his room and get dressed. When he got there, he pulled out his phone and called into work, making up a lie and telling them that he wouldn’t be making it in today.

——

A few weeks passed from the time Sokka came to visit. After that night Sokka didn’t really elaborate on the whole job thing and Zuko didn’t ask, though he hoped Sokka was okay. 

And now, Christmas was right around the corner. Aang and Katara were throwing a Christmas party and had invited their whole group plus a few people he had never met. 

Because of the large group and the large disparity of wealth among them, especially being barely out of college, they had decided to do a Secret Santa for those in the immediate friend group. Zuko had gotten Toph.

There was just one problem; Zuko was really bad at gift giving. 

Last year he had gotten his father and Azula gift cards. Fucking gift cards. Not only was this a terrible gift, but isn’t it a bit absurd to give millionaires gift cards? 

So naturally, Zuko stressed. The only thing that seemed to be getting him through the stressful season was Sokka who was being especially nice to him, inviting him out for coffee and always sending him dumb memes that he would never admit he actually found funny. 

However, the Secret Santa gift stress was only second to the inhumane amount of stress he felt today. Today, December 20th, he had a meeting scheduled for precisely 2:00 PM, and Zuko knew better than to even be a second late. 

For the first time in a while, Zuko had a business meeting with his father. 

He had spent the entirety of last night laying in bed sick to his stomach and thinking up scenarios and ways that he could fuck this up. 

‘What if Zuko let it slip that Azula had visited him?

What if Ozai asked about all the sick days he had been taking to get out of being at work?

What if he found out about his new friends?’

This last thought confused Zuko a little bit. ‘So what if he finds out about his new friends? It’s not like Ozai would hurt any of them, right?’ 

The fact that he had to ask himself the question made him uncomfortable. That night he had a terrible nightmare about what exactly Ozai was capable of and could potentially do to his friends. 

But today he was pacing in front of his large window in a beautiful black suit with gold accents. 

Zuko took deep breaths like how his uncle had taught him, attempting to release tension. He had a candle burning on his desk of what he knew was his father’s favorite scents; citrus, blackberry, and rose. 

His mind flashed to images from his dream the night before. 

Images of Ozai punishing his friends the same way he punished Zuko. 

Images of Ozai showing his “fatherly love” to them. 

Images of Ozai, angry and upset, creating schemes to frame and put all his friends in jail. 

That last one wasn’t too far off of something that could happen. It happened to one of Ozai’s employees years ago. Perfect record, but ended up in jail, all the while pleading that he was innocent. 

Zuko knew the truth. He saw the papers sitting neatly on his father’s desk. He watched him disappear to plant the evidence. And one time, in a particularly dazed moment after his father had used him, he even admitted it. 

So it was better that Ozai never even found out he had friends. They were safer that way. 

Zuko brought a shaky hand to his mouth as he bit his fingernails. It was a nasty habit that he thought he had ditched in college, but here it was coming back again as he looked over the sludgy landscape of New York City. 

It had snowed a couple days ago, but now the snow had time to mix with dirt and turned gray and gross looking. The cold sky allowed very little light to shine onto the city. Overall Zuko would classify the day as definitively gloomy - the perfect compliment to his mood. 

He took a deep sigh, leaning to look out over the city, trying to take it all in. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered how easy it would be to just leave. To run off into the city and never be seen again, but he owed everything to his father. His job, his money, hell he owed his entire life to him-

“Hello Zuko” 

Zuko’s muscles twitched and jolted him around immediately tending and going stiff, unaware that he wasn’t alone in the room. He could only thank Agni for not letting out the surprised gasp he was about to make. 

Ozai stood tall on the other side of the room, seeming like he towered over everything. In reality, he was barely a few inches taller than Zuko, but the way he seemed to take command and dominate the room made his literal height obsolete. 

Zuko just stood there lamely, not sure what to say before blurting out, “You’re early”. 

Ozai raised an eyebrow, “You know what I say, Zuko. To be early is to be on time. To be on time is to be late” he said simply. “Now are you going to just stand there or are you going to help your father out?” 

Zuko chose the latter, and practically ran over to his father, taking his coat and briefcase from his hands and pulling out his own desk chair for Ozai to sit in. 

When Ozai came to visit, he didn’t sit in just any seat, he typically demanded to be seated at the place of highest authority and therefore Zuko had to surrender his desk. 

As Ozai rounded the desk and cupped Zuko’s left cheek, running his fingertip along the edge of the burn. 

Zuko held his breath, not daring to move an inch. Ozai’s rough hand pressed down into the scar, thumb adding more and more pressure and pain as Zuko whimpered and crumpled to his knees before his father, just how he knew he wanted him to. 

Ozai hummed happily and took a seat in Zuko’s chair, “You look so pretty on your knees” he mumbled, running a hand through his son’s hair. 

Zuko felt the intense urge to scrub every part of his body under blistering hot water. 

But he knew better than to be repulsed by his father’s love and that any appreciation his father showed him was to be cherished, so he leaned into the gentle tugs on his hair. 

“Go sit” Ozai ordered, and Zuko quickly pulled himself to his feet, scrambling to get to the chair across from him. 

“Let’s get this meeting started” Ozai stated, but it sounded more like a command. 

And the meeting continued like a normal business meeting would, except in a bit more of a fatherly way. Moments when Ozai would grab Zuko’s hand that was resting on the table and hold it in his own. Where Ozai would make a comment about how he liked the way Zuko‘s hair was cut, even if it made him look homeless. Where Zuko could feel Ozai’s foot traveling up his leg, and there was nothing he could do about it. 

Other than than that, it was normal. It was normal until Zuko’s discarded phone buzzed on the table. Zuko’s face flushed and filled with a bright crimson shade as he saw Sokka’s name pop up with a meme attached to it. 

Ozai furrowed his brows, reading over the message. 

“That’s mine” Zuko said quickly and snatched his phone. Ozai’s hand pulled off of Zuko’s and he laced his fingers together authoritatively. 

“Zuko, who is Sokka?” 

Zuko’s hands found a smooth edge on his chair and began to rub his fingers over it nervously. 

“He’s-Sokka is my um... he’s my employee” Zuko lied. Ozai’s eyebrow raised as Zuko gulped. 

“Really? Zuko are you sure he’s you’re employee? You know better than to lie. I’m giving you one more chance to tell me the truth”

Zuko’s didn’t know what to do, he panicked. He didn’t want to lie, he knew the consequences for lying. It ranged anywhere from a spanking to one time when he was young where he spent 10 hours trapped in a small dark box to receiving a full beating from his father, of course only in places where no one would see. He shuddered at the memory of the mess of purple and blue bruises that only laid underneath his shirt and down his legs. 

“He’s my friend” Zuko said quietly, hoping that somehow if he said it quietly his father would somehow care less. 

“See baby, that wasn’t so hard?” Ozai said, lifting his son’s chin with one finger, running his thumb over his lips. “Shut the blinds, Zuko”

Zuko’s heart dropped. He knew what comes next. He hoped that today would be a normal business meeting but nothing was ever normal in Zuko’s life. 

He rose shakily to shut the hallway blinds so none of his employees could witness what was about to happen. 

As soon as he shut the large window that looked out over the city, encasing them in complete privacy, his father grabbed him by the waist pulling him back. Zuko immediately felt out of control. 

Back to chest, Ozai kissed Zuko’s unscarred cheek, making his way down his neck and slowly thrusting against him. His hands started at his chest, rubbing big circles over his pecs before traveling lower and lightly palming Zuko. 

‘This is love. This is just how my father shows his love. It’s unconventional, but that doesn’t make it wrong’ Zuko repeated in his head, remembering what Ozai had said whenever Zuko had his doubts about what was happening. 

Hands roughly grabbed Zuko’s shoulders most likely leaving bruises and turned him around. Zuko whimpered at the harsh contact as lips were met with Ozai’s as he hungrily kissed him. Zuko kissed back lightly and Ozai’s hands traveled to his ass and squeezed. 

He could feel his father’s familiar length growing against his thigh.

“On your knees, slut” Ozai commanded.

Zuko cringed at the name, but nonetheless dropped to his knees. Zuko tried to block out what happened next. 

———

On December 24th, the day of Aang and Katara’s Christmas party, Zuko had finally found Toph a gift. Yes, it was a bit last minute but at least he had it. He wasn’t sure if she would like it, but he was kinda out of options. 

Besides, he bought a gift card to her favorite restaurant just in case she didn’t like the gift. 

Zuko got dressed for the party, looking at the bruises his father had left not too long ago on his shoulders as he covered them with a maroon sweater. He was going for a “hot nerd” look (and it was working). 

So he headed out on the journey to Aang and Katara’s apartment. The whole way over, he was nervously running his fingers along the edges of the green and red wrapped package that he had spent way too long trying to figure out how to wrap. 

He arrived shortly and stepped out of the taxi, tipping well and standing in front of the building nervously. Aang buzzed him in and he took the long staircase up to the 5th floor. 

When he got to the door, he took a deep breath. Partially out of nervousness and partially because he had just walked up 5 flights of stairs. Zuko offhandedly reminded himself that he should probably visit the gym sometime soon. 

When Aang opened the door, he didn’t have time to process anything before he was wrapped in a huge hug. 

Somehow, Aang’s constant hugs always caught him off guard but he was starting to get better at not being so shocked and hugging back. 

“Zuko buddy! How’s it going? Merry Christmas!” Aang said, pulling back.

“I’m doing great, merry Christmas” Zuko said softly. 

“Well I’m so glad you made it! There’s a table over there for you to put your gift, and there’s food, well, everywhere, and we’ll start the Secret Santa as soon as everyone gets here!” Aang explained.

Zuko smiled and walked into the cozy apartment. It was small, but Aang and Katara had done well with the space. There was a Christmas tree in the corner, and food, as Aang said, on nearly every flat surface. It smelled heavenly, like freshly baked brownies and gingerbread and pine tree. One of the windows was cracked, but the apartment was still warm, probably from a combination of all the people, the fireplace that was running, and the oven being on. 

Inside, everyone was in the living room area, sitting and chatting. Zuko dropped off his gift on the table and made his way towards everyone. 

“Hey Zuko!” Someone exclaimed from the group, and Zuko smiled softly. 

“Hi guys, how’s it going?” He asked, delicately taking the seat on the couch, next to Sokka. 

“Zuko! You’ve arrived just in time to settle a debate” Sokka said, turning to face him. His eyes were bright with excitement and mischief. 

“What are your thoughts about... this” he excitedly pulled out a fedora hat from behind him, placing it on his head. “Huh, you love it don’t you?” He asked with a cheeky grin. 

Everyone around him groaned, “Sokka, please don’t do it. I won’t be friends with you if you go through a fedora phase” Suki said, holding her head in her hand. 

“I think he looks nice!” Toph exclaimed sarcastically with a smirk. 

“Shut up smartass,” Suki said giving her a light shove. 

“Watch it, doll face” Toph shoved her back a little harder. 

Suddenly, Suki threw her weight onto Toph, wrestling her, and Toph let out a shrieking laugh. 

“Anyway, you like it, don’t you?” Sokka asked, pointing to the hat excitedly. 

“I-You know I’m not a good liar...” Zuko said, chucking nervously, and Sokka nodded, hopefully. “So I’m just going to leave that there and change the subject”. Sokka’s jaw dropped and he let out a strangled noise, dropping his head into Zuko’s shoulder. 

“You were my last hope, but alas you have chosen to kill me” Sokka made a display of fake dying in Zuko’s arms. “I’ll always remember you... I see the light! I’m coming!” He exclaimed before going limp into Zuko’s lap. 

His eyes were closed and he looked almost peaceful, laying in Zuko’s lap. His hair was already starting to come out of his neat wolf tail, framing his face. Zuko just wanted to run his hair through those locks again. He wanted to explain to Sokka how much he cared about him and tell him that he might want to be more than just friends. He wanted to lean down and kiss the smirk off of his face, not caring if everyone saw them. But instead he smiled fondly and said:

“You’re an idiot”

“I know” Sokka said from Zuko’s lap. 

“For the record, I think the hat looks nice” Aang said as he passed by. Sokka shot back up into the air. 

“Victory! I am revived” he shouted, fist in the air. Aang crossed the room and opened the door to reveal Yue. Immediately Sokka dropped back onto the couch and leaned back, crossing his leg widely, ankle on knee and he pulled off the hat, tossing it behind him carelessly. 

“Cool cool cool cool” he numbed under his breath nervously. 

Yue, looking stunning as alway, made her way over to the living room. 

“Hi everyone!” She said with a smile as she sat down in the armchair next to Sokka. 

“Hey Yue! It’s great to see you! You look wonderful” Sokka said with a smile. He wasn’t wrong, she was wearing a gorgeous mauve dress that sparkled like her perfectly white teeth. But Zuko tried to let it go. 

Yus began a story about something that happened to her recently, and watched Sokka’s face as he smiled through her story. 

“Okay, it’s Secret Santa time! Katara, get over here!” Aang said, placing a bunch of gifts on the table. Katara abandoned whatever it was she was working on on the kitchen and headed over to join the group. 

“Per tradition, we will let the great Christmas tree ornament choose who goes first!” Aang held out in his hand a medium sized ornament in the shape of a Christmas tree. 

He placed it on the coffee table and spun it around, much like they were playing spin the bottle. 

The star of the tree ended up pointing towards Zuko. 

“Zuko, you get to go first, then we’ll go clockwise!” Aang explained and Zuko nodded. 

He glanced over the selection of gifts, skimming the names. A medium sized box caught his eye. It was wrapped in red and green wrapping paper with little Santa’s on it.

He pulled it towards him and began carefully ripping the wrapping paper. Inside, he found a very intricate teapot set with 2 teacups. The teapot itself was a dark maroon color and had a dragon etched into it with gold accents 

The teacups matched and had a gold lining on the rim. They were gorgeous to say the least. 

“Oh my god, this is an amazing gift... who got this for me?” Zuko asked, looking around the group. 

“All will be revealed at the end! Onto Suki!” Aang announced. 

Zuko watched as people opened their gifts, absentmindedly running his fingers over the intricate carvings on the tea pot. 

Zuko’s heart rate increased when they got to Toph and she opened up his gift. But she seemed to really like it. It was a mug that was filled with all types of candy and things that Toph liked, with a Braille “Merry Christmas, Toph!” Written on the side. 

“I-“ Toph started, and Zuko swallowed nervously, hand already reaching for the backup gift card in his pocket. 

“I love it! It’s so thoughtful” Toph said excitedly. 

Zuko physically slumped and let out an actual breath that he had been holding before taking another calming breath. 

They had gotten to the end, and Aang announced that it was time to reveal who everyone’s Secret Santa was. 

Zuko guessed his gift came from Suki for no reason other than the fact that it was an expensive gift and he didn’t know her financial situation, but she shook her head. 

“It was actually... me!” Aang announced. 

“Aang, I love it but you shouldn’t have,” 

Zuko recalled a particularly hard conversation where Aang disclosed that being a nurse and an environmental lawyer weren’t that great at paying NYC’s steep bills, including Aang’s sometimes expensive vegan diet. 

“If you love it, then I’m glad I did it” Aang said with a smile. 

They went around the circle, announcing who had who. To a bit of his dismay, Sokka had gotten Yue and got her a gorgeous necklace. He felt a small pang of jealousy but suppressed it. 

They sat around a talked and joked for a while before more and more people started to fill the apartment. Zuko was introduced to a few people whose names he almost immediately forgot (a bad habit of his) and mingled with everyone. 

He kept taking glances back towards Sokka, who was always talking so passionately about whatever he was trying to convey. He did unfortunately notice that him and Yue spent most of the night together. He tried his best to be happy for them. 

Towards the end of the night, Zuko felt a tap on his shoulder. Behind him stood Sokka, and Zuko quickly ended the conversation. 

“Come with me,” Sokka said, grabbing Zuko’s hand into his own, gently pulling him out of the apartment. 

Electricity zapped throughout Zuko’s bones at Sokka’s big warm hand encasing his own. He allowed himself to be dragged through the party and up another few flights of stairs until they reached the top. 

Sokka led him up one last flight of stairs and they ended up on the roof. Zuko was a bit relieved that by the time they got up there, he wasn’t the only one a bit out of breath. 

“So, I wanted to bring you up there because I wanted to do this, but I didn’t want everyone else to be upset, and I didn’t want to cause a big deal because I mean... it’s not... well it is but I didn’t know if you wanted...” Sokka was rambling on and on, and Zuko was really trying to follow but he wasn’t getting it and he took Sokka’s hand into his own. 

“Hey, what’s going on?” He asked. He dared to gently run his thumb over Sokka’s knuckles when Sokka blushed, but visibly relaxed at his touch. 

“I, uh, I got you a gift. Merry Christmas” 

From behind his back, a small package emerged wrapped in bright silver packaging. Clearly some effort was put into wrapping, though it still looked a bit like a child had made it. 

“Oh, Sokka. You didn’t have to get anything for me, I didn’t get anything for you,” Zuko said, silently cursing himself for not getting him anything. 

“No, don’t worry about it at all. I don’t need anything. Just opening this will be a gift in itself,” Sokka said with a shy smile. 

Zuko scoffed, playfully “You’re so cheesy” Sokka just shrugged. 

Zuko began to unwrap as Sokka rambled again. 

“I- It’s not much but I thought it would be, um, nice and I just think you’ve been a great friend so I thought this um, yeah... do you like it?”

Out from the silver mess of paper, Zuko found a music box. And not just any music box, a hand created music box with a bundle of paper that was clearly hand hole punched to feed through the box. Zuko could see the imperfections in the paper and the tape where Sokka had strung together lines of music box paper to create a melody. 

“Sokka, I’m... speechless” Zuko said as his heart started glowing. There were so many adjectives he could use to describe how the tightening of his chest felt. Or the feeling of breathlessness as he looked at the intricate carving on the box - water symbols flowed and splashed across the box. 

“It’s okay, you don’t need to say anything. Just listen,” Sokka said and took the paper, showing Zuko how to feed it through the machine. Zuko began winding and soft music rang through the air. It sounded vaguely familiar, but Zuko couldn’t put his finger on it. 

“I’m not even sure if you remember this, but um, this is the song that was playing when I first properly met you. The one that Yue and her band were playing. You just looked like you enjoyed the music so much,” 

Zuko could cry. This was the kindest, most thoughtful gift that anyone had ever gotten for him. Instead, he suddenly threw his arms around Sokka and hugged him tightly. Zuko wasn’t really the physical touch hugging type of guy, but in the moment he felt so overwhelmed with emotions that he didn’t know what else to do. 

Zuko suddenly realized what he was doing and abruptly pulled away. “I-erm, thank you... for the gift,” Zuko said awkwardly. 

Sokka smiled, “Merry Christmas, Zuko” 

“Merry Christmas, Sokka,”. Zuko held eye contact with those beautiful swimming pools that Sokka called eyes, and didn’t even notice as snow started to lightly fall around them and they headed back to the party. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi friends! It’s been a hot minute but I’m still here! Pro tip: don’t take 18 credits if you want to do anything other than school work all the time. As always, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated and I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sokka delivers some surprising news, and Zuko takes it well. Lots of cute fluff :)

The week or so in between Christmas and New Years is always a strange time. There’s not enough will for people to want to go back to work, yet it is a lot of time to spend away from the office. Still, most people end up taking off some vacation days and relax their way into the new year.

Unless, of course, you’re Zuko Sozin. While his friends enjoyed the few days between the 25th and the 1st, Zuko sat in his lonely office in the nearly empty building, most of the lights off except for his. The bright fluorescents beaming down on the lone body hunched over his desk, furiously typing away.

But hey at least he didn’t have to worry about parking, right?

A big last minute problem happened and there was a lot of paperwork to be done as well as a project. He had specific instructions from his father (or Mr. Sozin as he was told to refer to Ozai as in the workplace) that he was not allowed to take this week off because of this project.

He tapped his pen anxiously against the edge of the desk before turning to the computer to input things and type away.

He absently wondered what his life would be like if he didn’t work here. Or if he would even have to work right now had he not been slacking off the past few weeks for his new friends.

He heard his phone go off with a resounding ding, followed by 2 more. Zuko bit his lip, mind filtering between whether or not to answer while at work. Technically, just about no one was here so how would they know?

He quickly grabbed his phone like it was illegal and looked down at the messages.

Sokka: hey you

Sokka: mr. workaholic

Sokka: I need you

Zuko was oh so tempted. He bit his lip, wondering about what Sokka could possibly need him for. His heart fluttered a little as he let his mind wander and wonder about what his life could be like with Sokka needing him.

Zuko daydreamed with a content sigh before his phone buzzed again angrily.

Sokka: seriously. please zuko, I need you. i need help can you meet me somewhere?

Zuko frowned at the message. This sounded bad. He glanced at the half finished report and his phone and figured he could make it up and work extra tomorrow. He slammed his laptop shut and left the mess of papers on his desk as he headed towards the elevator.

Zuko: I’m leaving work now, want to meet in the park? At our favorite bench?

Sokka immediately responded.

Sokka: that sounds great. See you soon.

Zuko hurried out of the building and hailed a taxi, instructing the driver to step on it.

He nervously picked at his nails, wondering what could possibly be wrong. A terrible thought crossed Zuko’s mind: Ozai.

Zuko started taking deep breaths to keep himself from panicking too much.

_‘There are so many terrible things Ozai could do to him’_

Zuko pinched himself, trying not to go down an anxiety rabbit hole.

_‘He could kill him and no one would know’_

Zuko shuddered and the taxi driver raised his eyebrow curiously, but never made eye contact.

_’The court systems will never find him guilty’_

The ride was far too long in Zuko’s opinion as he eagerly hopped out of the car, high tailing it to get to the spot on the middle of the park. The one underneath a few trees and in a small gazebo.

Zuko seemed to have arrived first as no one was there, so he nervously paced around the gazebo.

_‘What if he got framed for something? What if he doesn’t show up? What if a gang is after him?’_ Zuko’s mind was spinning with the endless possibilities, he honestly felt sick. He might throw up, or faint, or both when he heard the crunch of boots on snow approaching.

He turned to see Sokka walking up. Zuko immediately let out a small sigh of relief. At least he was alive.

“Hey Zuko,” Sokka said, approaching. He didn’t sound like himself though. He sounded quite the opposite from the confident, outspoken man he’d come to know. He had a scared look in his eye and looked generally uncomfortable.

“Hey Sokka, how are you? Is everything okay?” Zuko wasted no time ushering Sokka into the seat and sitting, their knees touching gently. Zuko subtly tried to check out Sokka for any bruising, scar, limp, or any other physical injury, but he appeared to have none.

Zuko instantly relaxed after his visual inspection because it would be _absolutely silly_ to accuse Ozai of anything of that caliber. It’s a ridiculous thought to think Ozai could do something like that. Ozai said it himself - he wouldn’t hurt a fly.

“Yeah, I’m fine Zuko I just... I need to ask you something and I need you to promise me that you won’t judge me or think less of me,” Sokka said, not looking Zuko in the eye, ashamed.

“Ask me anything at all, I would never judge you,” Zuko’s heart fluttered nervously.

“I... I need a place to stay. My-uh, well, I got fired, and my lease is up and I thought I was going to be able to find another apartment but because I got fired they won’t let me move in. I just need a few nights, maybe a few weeks. I won’t even take up a bed I’ll sleep on the couch or the floor and I’ll pay you as much as I can. I’m really sorry to be asking this you don’t have to say yes, I just don’t know what to do because I know that Aang and Katara don’t really have extra room and neither do Suki and Toph, I promise I’ll be out of your hair as soon as possible, you won’t even notice I’m there. I just… I don’t know what to do” Sokka began to fight back tears, quickly wiping underneath his eyes and clearing his throat.

Zuko’s hand hesitated for a second before gently resting on Sokka’s back and creating small circles. “Yes, of course you can stay with me. And don’t even worry about money or anything. My father pays for the entire apartment and I never use the second bedroom anyway,”

“Are you sure?” Sokka’s voice cracked, “I really don’t want to be a burden and I don’t want you to feel obligated. I know it’s kinda weird because we haven’t known each other for a long time but I just really think of us as good friends already but I totally understand if that’s not what you think-“

Sokka was rambling, stuck on explaining himself. Zuko knew that if he didn’t stop him soon, he would just keep talking and making himself more upset. 

“Sokka, Sokka. It’s okay. You’re not a burden. Honestly, if you want, you can do more than just crash at my place, why don’t you move in?” The words coming out of Zuko’s mouth surprised himself. Since when could he actually ask for things he wanted?

Sokka looked up, eyebrows together. “Are you serious?”

Zuko’s heart dropped. ‘ _Here comes the rejection’_ he thought, bracing himself and nodding shyly.

“Thank you Zuko! You’re the best!” Sokka wrapped his arms around Zuko, practically throwing all of his weight into him, knocking him over so Sokka was situated on top of Zuko. “Oops,” he laughed with a sheepish smile.

He leaned down and gave Zuko a gentle kiss on his cheek and Zuko’s face turned bright red. _‘Oh my god oh my god oh my god’_ Zuko’s heart raced and he could feel the blood coming up to his cheeks as he tried to suppress the hot blush.

“Thank you, Zuko. You are the kindest person I have ever met,” Sokka said sincerely before getting off of Zuko and helping pull him up. Zuko was about to refute that point and tell Sokka that he was wrong but something inside of him told him to just let it go, so he did.

"So, um, I know I’m asking a lot of you so you don’t have to say yes if you’re uncomfortable. It’s just... no one else knows that I was a bartender, they all think I have some fancy engineering job so when people ask, can we just tell them I moved in because I was feeling lonely living alone or something like that?”

Zuko nodded, understanding. “We can tell them whatever you want,” he reassured him.

“Thank you thank you thank you! You’re seriously amazing I don’t know what I would do without you,”

Zuko’s heart swelled, even though he specifically told it not to as he accepted the compliment, even if he didn’t really believe it. Growing up, he was always taught that he needed room for improvement, so taking compliments didn’t exactly come naturally to him. He was always inclined to disagree with or dismiss compliments altogether.

“And, um, just one last thing. I kinda sorta have to be out of my apartment by tomorrow evening,” Sokka said cautiously. “I’m really sorry to spring this onto you like this, but I really thought I could figure it out on my own.

It was a bit last minute, but Zuko didn’t care. To be honest, he was more upset that Sokka didn’t seek help earlier. He could just imagine Sokka sitting in front of his computer late at night, the glow of his laptop illuminating his face and a cold blue light reflecting off of his reading glasses as he searched for apartments. Stressing over prices and searching for job listings for any job. His heart ached for his _friend._

“Then we better start moving you in,”

Sokka beamed a genuine and truly happy smile.

They took a cab back to Sokka’s apartment to begin moving him. They kept conversation light and chatted a bit. Zuko always felt like he could say whatever he wanted to Sokka with no judgement. He would actually consider himself talkative when he was in Sokka’s presence - a word he doesn’t use lightly. Something about him just made him want to spill all his secrets, which was a dangerous, slippery slope.

When they arrived at Sokka’s apartment, Zuko realized that he had never visited before. Sokka had mentioned it was tiny and, in his words, “kinda a shit hole” so they never stopped by.

Zuko always assumed that Sokka just didn’t like to entertain guests and over exaggerated to encourage people to not drop by. It turns out, Sokka wasn’t lying.

The studio apartment was more than small, it was tiny. He immediately felt clausterphobic as soon as he walked in.

It was basically just one small bedroom that also had kitchen things in it with a small bathroom attached to it. The “kitchen” was just a stove with one burner, a small sink, and a mini fridge.

The bathroom barely fit a toilet, a shower, and a sink. Zuko was fairly confident that he couldn't sit on the toilet without his knees hitting the wall and there was no way the door could open all the way.

He had no idea how Sokka could live in a place like this or how he could fit furniture. Luckily, pretty much all of Sokka’s things were already in boxes.

“Okay, let’s start with the biggest things and make our way to smaller. Where’s your bed?” Zuko asked, looking around.

Sokka let out a small, bitter laugh that sincerely worried Zuko. “I don’t have a bed... I’ve been sleeping on an air mattress” Sokka said as his cheeks turned pink with embarrassment.

“Oh, Sokka. I’m so sorry”. Zuko felt a bit ashamed of his current living situation where he had 2 queen beds when people like Sokka didn’t even have one.

But Sokka brushed it off quickly, “Most comfortable air mattress I’ve ever slept on,” he joked. Zuko offered a small smile but cringed internally.

_‘He deserves so much more than this’_

Zuko called for an extra large taxi to drive them back to Zuko’s apartment from Sokka’s. They hardly needed a moving truck - all of Sokka’s possessions fit in the big taxi, albeit a little cramped.

They unloaded at Zuko’s and brought up the boxes into the guest bedroom. It only took a few trips there and back as they unloaded under the soft glow of the moonlight, snowflakes gently falling around them.

“And that’s the last box,” Zuko said, setting it down at the foot of the bed.

“Zuko, I - you’ve been such a great friend, if there’s anything, anything at all that I can do to make it up to you please let me know” Sokka said sincerely, holding Zuko’s arm.

“Don’t worry about it, Sokka. We’re friends. I’m genuinely happy to do it,” he said, hesitating before adding, “I was getting kinda lonely being here by myself anyway so I’m really glad you’re here”. And he meant it. He meant every word he told him. Regardless of his schoolgirl crush, all the alone time he spent wasn't good for him and he wanted someone to live with. 

Sokka smiled softly, “Well I’m going to start unpacking. If you want we can hang out and talk while I unpack,” he offered.

Zuko thought for a moment before putting up his pointer finger and muttered, “One moment, be right back,” as Sokka pried open a cardboard box.

Zuko did a quick jog to the kitchen, looking around in his fridge and found a bottle of champagne. _‘This will do’_ he thought with a shrug and grabbed two gold rimmed champagne flutes jogging back to the guest room, well, _Sokka’s_ room.

He held up the alcohol and walked back into the room, seeing Sokka putting his clothes into drawers.

“Okay, so I know champagne might not be the most appropriate choice of alcohol but, well, it’s alcohol and I think we both could use some. Plus, we’re celebrating you moving in so... yeah… drink up” Zuko explained as he poured into the glasses. Sokka let out a loud laugh that was like a jingle to Zuko’s ears as he took a glass.

“I’m glad to be here” Sokka said, and raised his glass, “Cheers. To Zuko - my best friend and the most wonderful human being in the world,” Sokka touched the rims of their glasses together, keeping eye contact before winking and taking a drink.

Zuko too took a sip of the bubbly golden drink, relishing the sweet taste and the way it gave a soothing burn in his throat.

“Holy shit, what is this? It‘s delicious,” Sokka exclaimed in surprise.

“Uhh, Dom Pérignon? Is that good?” Zuko asked looking intently at the bottle, as if it would magically tell him if it was fancy or not.

Sokka laughed, “Good? It’s amazing! How much did this cost you?” He asked, taking another sip.

Zuko racked his brain trying to think of when he purchased it, “I didn’t buy it. It was a gift from... my father I think. But I don't really drink champagne and it'll go bad after tonight, so might as well drink up,” Zuko shrugged and took a long sip before changing the subject, “Anyway, how about I help you unpack?”

“I mean, if you want to” Sokka said, pulling the tape off of another box labeled ‘clothes’ and throwing it on the floor in Zuko’s general direction. He grabbed the box and gingerly opened the flaps to see a mess of mostly shirts and socks that had been haphazardly thrown in.

But the smell is what got to Zuko. The way they smelled uniquely like Sokka. He felt absolutely intoxicated, and not just from the champagne. 

Zuko quickly realized that he was going to want to be a little more tipsy for this as he reached for the bottle and poured another glass.

They both went through a few boxes and a few glasses and made conversation about life, their friends, and the existence of aliens (Zuko's stance being there's no real evidence and Sokka's being there's no evidence against leading to a never ending circle of simultaneously proving each other right and wrong). 

As he was nearing the bottom of another box, he found something... different. He found boxer briefs that had small turtleducks on them, smiling and swimming in a lake of blue fabric.

And another pair that was green that had the words ‘SEXY BITCH’ printed in bold gold letters across the ass.

And a pair of classic white boxers with little red hearts on them.

Zuko suddenly burst into laughter, “No offense, Sokka, but do all of your underwear have things printed on them?” He asked, holding up what he had found.

Sokka turned, stunned to see his underwear in Zuko’s hands and turned red from his cheeks down to his neck before laughing along too. “Hey, put those down! They’re my _delicates_ ” He exclaimed, leaning over to snatch them away.

But Zuko was quicker and dodged his hand and ran towards the bedroom door. “What are you going to do if I don’t?” A spark lit inside of Zuko as he became brave and bold and daring. Maybe it was the alcohol, or maybe it was the just as intoxicating company. 

“Well, probably nothing,” Sokka shrugged.

“Oh, I get it. Because you can’t,” Zuko smiled mischievously as Sokka’s eyebrow raised.

“What?”

“No, it’s okay. I get it. I guess I’m just that much quicker than you,” Zuko purposefully tapped into Sokka’s competitive spirit. If he knew Sokka, he knew that he couldn’t resist a challenge.

“Hey, you are NOT quicker than I am!” Sokka protested.

“So how come you don’t have these in your hands yet” Zuko waved around Sokka’s drawers teasingly.

“Because you didn’t put them down when I told you to!”

“Oh yeah? Make me.”

There was a silence as he watched the gears turn in Sokka’s head, deciding what his next move was going to be.

Slowly, Sokka reached for the champagne and brought the bottle straight up to his lips, finishing the whole bottle in a few gulps, surprised to see that they had both drank so much so quickly. Zuko took a mental picture of the way his Adam’s apple bobbed with each swallow and filed that image away for another time.

Sokka wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and suddenly lunged at Zuko. He quickly side stepped Sokka’s grasp and darted out the bedroom door. “You’re going to have to try a lot harder than that!” He called behind his back, heading towards the kitchen.

Heart racing and adrenaline washing from Zuko’s head to his toes like a gigantic, powerful tidal wave, he raced towards the island. Not a moment later, Sokka appeared on the other side of the island.

Both men realized the predicament they were in. Basically they were in a circle, and Zuko was kinda screwed. If Zuko went left, Sokka would go right and vice versa, effectively circumventing him every time. 

Zuko looked around nervously, trying to look for another way to escape.

“It’s your move,” Sokka said, eyes lit up and hungry to win.

Zuko pursed his lips, contemplating what to do before deciding to fake running left only to go right which… unsurprisingly did not work. All that happened was they ended up in the same position as before with Zuko trapped one side of the counter and Sokka on the other.

“Just give up now, Sozin. It’s my game now. I can wait here all night if I have to” Sokka said smugly, crossing his arms.

Zuko started to panic slightly before thinking up a mischievous plan. In that moment, Zuko thanked Agni that he had been enrolled in years of martial arts and had some gymnastic ability.

He shoved the underwear in his back pocket and gripped the edge of the island and propelled himself so that he was standing on the counter, thoroughly surprising the hell out of Sokka (and kind of himself) and jumped off of the marble, running in the direction of his bedroom.

“Holy shit, what the _fuck_ was that, Zuko?”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me!” Zuko laughed as he slid into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him before realizing that, yet again, he had trapped himself. He knew he had only seconds before the shock would wear off and Sokka would enter, so he snatched up a pair of slippers off the floor and ran towards the giant window flinging himself onto the snowy fire escape.

Not a second after he made it out there, he heard the door to his bedroom swing open and in stalked Sokka. “Oh Zuko!” He called out playfully “Come on out!”

Zuko felt the bitter cold through the thin slippers as his teeth began to chatter. Luckily, the alcohol was woking its magic and was keeping him somewhat warm.

After a few minutes, he didn’t really hear Sokka looking for him in his room anymore even though he figured the open window would be a dead giveaway. He mustered up the courage to peek into the room, and saw no one. His bedroom door was open, so maybe Sokka had given up and walked away?

He placed a hand on the window frame tentatively to pull himself in when Sokka leaped out from the side with a warrior like yell.

Zuko let out a shriek, which he would _absolutely_ blame on the alcohol if asked about, as Sokka reached from him.

His first instinct was to jump up and run, but when he turned he remembered he was on the fire escape, and there was nowhere to go. He clutched onto the railing, looking down 15 floors seriously contemplating what were the odds that he could Spiderman-style fling himself off of the fire escape and smoothly climb his way down as Sokka started crawling out of the window. 

One look at the ant people below and he knew that it was hopeless. He turned around to see Sokka smiling a smug grin. The wind was blowing gently out here and it was doing wonders for Sokka’s hair. Zuko didn’t notice exactly when the hair tie had come out, but it was out now and Sokka looked like he could be the protagonist in a rom-com... No, the hero in a superhero movie. He looked truly magnificent with his white smile gleaming under the moonlight. 

“Now Zuko, I’m going to ask nicely once more, just so it’s not embarrassing for you. Will you please give me my drawers back?”

Zuko thought for a moment and reached for his pocket like he was going to hand them back, but made a last ditch effort to lunge at the open bedroom window. But of course, that wasn’t going to work. Sokka grabbed him by the waist, effortlessly throwing him over his shoulder.

“Aww, is Zuko a sore loser?” Sokka cooed ruffling his hair before he snatched the underwear from Zuko’s back pocket.

“I’m not a sore loser! It was a genuine last ditch effort that might have worked” Zuko grumbled as Sokka headed back towards the window to head back inside. Zuko felt Sokka’s warm hand on the back of his neck to ensure he didn’t hit his head on the window frame as he gently brought him inside.

“Sounds like a sore loser to me”

“Okay, okay. I get it, you won. You can put me down now”

Zuko felt himself engulfed in fluffy pillows and blankets as he was gently laid on his bed.

“Can you shut the window?” Zuko asked, shivering. “I’m fucking freezing. These shoes did nothing for my feet”

Sokka chuckled and complied. “At least you had shoes. My feet are literally frozen”

Zuko sat up, surprised and looked to see that Sokka in fact, wasn’t wearing shoes.

“Oh my god, you’re an idiot. You didn’t wear shoes out in the snow?”

Sokka shrugged. “It was in the spirit of the game!”

“Okay, okay. Come on. Go put on socks and I'm going to make some hot chocolate,” Zuko jumped off the bed and headed towards the kitchen. Just a minute later he was joined by a newly socked Sokka.

“So, the key to the best hot chocolate, is a dash of cinnamon and some hazelnut creamer. Or at least that’s how my uncle makes it” Zuko explained as he pulled out the ingredients.

“Are you close to your uncle? I’ve heard you mention him a bit” Sokka inquired, pulling up a chair and sitting at the table.

Zuko smiled fondly as he poured the milk into the saucepan, “I love my uncle Iroh. He’s like… he’s like a father to me. He’s genuinely the strongest, best man I know” Zuko explained, feeling a bit exposed and vulnerable telling Sokka this but continued anyway, “He’s always been there for me, you know? I guess to him, I’m kind of like another son”

“He sounds like a really great man,”

“He is… you should meet him someday” Zuko blurted out before realizing how weird and random that sounded. Backtracking quickly, he added, “Because he owns this tea shop… The Jasmine Dragon, I don’t know if you’ve heard about it, or like tea, but I feel like you would like his tea because his tea is really good and um, yeah... tea”Zuko furiously stirred the milk, drowning his awkwardness in the action.

“That sounds like a great idea! It sounds like you’re even closer to him than your dad... I’ve never even heard you mention your dad”

Zuko’s stomach flipped at the mention of his father. “No! My father and I are... close. I guess um, not in the same way. I see uncle a lot more often because he’s less busy... I visit him every week and only see my father less than once a month. You know, being the head of a large tech corporations has its downsides... Like quality time with your son,” Zuko added the chocolate to the mixture, stirring nervously again.

“Oh, well you sound like a great nephew”

Zuko cringed slightly, “Well I’m not always the best nephew…”

“Nonsense, I bet you’re an amazing nephew,”

“He’s just done so much for me, and I don’t know how to pay him back” Zuko became acutely aware of the scar on his face as he thought about how his uncle cared for him after he got it. How could he ever pay someone back for doing all that he did for Zuko?

Sokka hesitated as he tried to find the right words to say, “Sometimes it’s not about payback. Or, at least that’s how I see unconditional love. I don’t think that I could ever pay back my father, or hell, even Bato for all they’ve done for me, but I don’t think payback is the point of why they’ve helped me”

Like a reflex Zuko scoffed, “That’s bullshit. Everyone always has a motive and wants something. Nothing is ever free”. The words were second nature, the sentiment pounded into his head since he was young.

“Nothing?” Sokka asked, his voice wavering with what came off as sympathy.

“Oh, um, maybe that sounded a little insensitive and, uh, pessimistic… Sorry” Zuko poured the hot chocolate into mugs, topping with whipped cream and handed one to Sokka.

“It’s alright. It’s okay to disagree”

Sokka leaned into the steaming, warm mug and took a slow sip, “This at least is one thing that we can agree on. This hot chocolate is absolutely _delicious_ ” Sokka smiled.

Zuko took a sip and grimaced. It was good, but he messed something up. Something wasn’t quite right. Maybe the ratio of cream to milk? Maybe the amount of cinnamon? He couldn’t put his finger on it. From his side, he heard Sokka giggle.

“What?” Zuko asked, suddenly feeling self conscious.

“You’ve got a whip cream mustache,” Sokka giggled like a child.

“You’re literally 5 years old,” Zuko said with a laugh and licked his upper lip, tasting the whipped cream that laid there.

“You didn’t get it all,” Sokka said, tapping his face to show where it was on Zuko’s face.

Zuko poked out his tongue to get it, but evidentially couldn’t reach it.

Sokka leaned forward and with a gentle thumb, wiped off the last of the whipped cream.

Zuko must be dreaming. This was the only explanation for such a sexual move. This was an act he had seen in bad pornos, yet here he was, feeling his _friend_ Sokka’s big hand on the side of his face, thumb running over his lips a few times to wipe away the rest of the whipped cream.

_Sokka’s face was so close, and it was studying Zuko’s like a book. Sokka’s big blue eyes focused on Zuko’s, before fluttering down and looking at his lips. Zuko was sure Sokka could feel his heart beating, no, pounding and shaking the earth beneath them. Before he knew it, Sokka was leaning in and kissing him. It felt so right, he kissed back with passion and a pent up need for just Sokka. The passion of months of unrequited love. “Oh Zuko, I’ve been waiting so long to do that... I love you,”_

Zuko felt a strange shift and heard a voice. “Zuko, you good buddy?” Zuko shook his head rapidly looking around as his consciousness floated back into reality. Sokka was, in fact, not kissing him and was instead looking at him like he had just sprouted a third arm.

Zuko absently wondered how much of the last few minutes had been real. “I’m fine-yeah, I’m fine,”

He searched for context clues and saw Sokka still wiping the sticky whipped cream off of his thumb onto a napkin. So Sokka _did_ wipe whipped cream off of his upper lip... Zuko filed that away for some late night over analysis to happen later.

They both finished their hot chocolate and put the used dishes into the dishwasher, before taking note of the time.

“Oh wow, it’s kinda late” Zuko commented, looking at the large clock on the wall. “And I have work tomorrow” he added with a groan.

“You have work tomorrow? I thought you had a cushy desk job where you could take off however much time you wanted?”

“Cushy desk job, yes. Take off time, never” Zuko grimaced.

Sokka hummed understandingly as they both walked in the direction of their respective rooms.

“Goodnight Zuko. I love ‘ya bud,” Sokka yawned with a sleepy smile.

“Goodnight Sokka”

And Zuko walked into his bedroom and laid in bed like it wasn’t one of the strangest nights of his entire life.

He shut the light off and laid down for a while, his brain was restless like a unrelenting television that he couldn't shut off. It played back awkward moments from earlier that day that he did not want to relive. It played back random moments from childhood that he had forgotten about. It played back clips of happiness and trauma and relief all at the same time.  
  
When his brain was unbearable like this, he usually found it helpful to get a glass of water. So in his sleepy state, he padded over to the kitchen to fill up a glass and bring it back to his room.

As he walked back from his midnight glass of water, he could hear Sokka’s somewhat _obnoxious_ snoring coming from his bedroom.

Or, at least obnoxious is the term any sane person would use. If it was anyone else Zuko would be the first to complain and buy an expensive set of ear plugs and make the occasional passive aggressive comment about how he didn’t know how the neighborhood stayed asleep with him there. But somehow he thought it was… cute?

_‘I must be going insane’_ Zuko thought as he lingered at Sokka’s door, listening to the waves of snoring coming from the man inside.

In that moment, Zuko was certain that what his uncle had often said was true, that love makes you crazy.

All he could do in the moment was sigh and smile, thinking to himself, _‘What the fuck have I gotten myself into?’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi friends, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Things are starting to get crazy as we dive further. As always, kudos and comments make me super happy, I absolutely LOVE hearing what you all have to say about my fic - the good and the bad. 
> 
> Also, I was wondering - does anyone know where to get the ATLA comics? Lowkey I found a google drive with the PDFs but they ended up getting deleted and now I'm stuck with only the 1st and 2nd book and I need more! Even if you know where I can get them for a good price would be really appreciated! 
> 
> Okay, that's all. Much love to all you beautiful humans! :)


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